Indo-Canadian receives death threats from Khalistani radicals for organising reception to honour Indian envoy

Toronto: The head of an Indo-Canadian organisation in British Columbia has complained to local law enforcement about receiving death threats from Khalistani radicals after he organised a reception last month in honour of India’s High Commissioner to Ottawa.

In a letter to the interim Commissioner of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), Maninder Gill, president of the Surrey, BC-based Friends of Canada and India Foundation, said he was “continuously getting death threats”, and cited a 778 area code mobile number.

“They are threatening me that I will suffer the same fate as Ripudaman Singh Malik who was shot dead in Surrey,” he wrote in the letter.

Malik, who was acquitted in the 1985 Air India Kanishka bombing by the Canadian judiciary in 2005, was shot dead by assailants outside his Surrey office on the morning of July 14 last year. His death came weeks after he travelled to India. The daylight attack led to speculation that it may have been connected to Malik’s past and, significantly, to his altered view on the Khalistani separatism in recent years. In January 2022, he had written a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, praising him for reopening the 1984 anti-Sikh riots cases, among other initiatives, and also released an open letter to the community to renounce the demand for a separate Khalistan.

Two persons, Tanner Fox, 21, Jose Lopez, 23, were arrested in this connection in July last year but the motive for the killing has yet to be revealed by police.

Gill, who is also a mediaperson, was the principal organiser of the event at a convention centre in Surrey on March 19. India’s High Commissioner Sanjay Kumar Verma was scheduled to attend the reception, but was forced to cancel his attendance as nearly 200 protesters, some wielding swords, gathered in front of the venue.

Gill said that he has filed a complaint in this regard with the Surrey detachment of RCMP and has been informed the threat was being investigated.

In the letter, he also wrote, “I wonder what is my fault for me to suffer such assault, abuse and death threats? I was merely organising a peaceful public function.”

He pointed out that Canada released an Indo-Pacific Strategy “to improve relations with India”. That document, released in November, describes India as a “critical partner” in the region. “My life and limb is in danger from Khalistani radicals every time I walk out of my house. Please look into this situation and ensure that Indo- Canadian Community can live peacefully in Canada and rule of law is restored in the city of Surrey,” Gill added, in the letter.

He had also emailed the office of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in this context, and received a response stating the “comments” had been “carefully reviewed” and forwarded to Minister of Public Safety Marco Mendocino.

Gill also said that other members of the function’s organising committee for the reception had also faced death threats. “Several others have also received threats but they are afraid to come forward,” he said.