For the second time in the past week, a Sikh activist had his home hit by gunfire. This time it was in in Brampton, Ontario.
Sikh independence activists have been the target of several violent attacks in both Canada and the U.S. since last June when Khalistani activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar was assassinated outside a Sikh temple in Surrey, B.C.
Last week, a home with a child inside was shot up in a residential neighbourhood in Surrey, British Columbia. Fortunately, no one was injured.
The home belonged to a Sikh activist, according to Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, the spokesman for the advocacy group Sikhs For Justice.
Construction workers found a bullet hole in the window of an unfinished house in Brampton on Monday, which belongs to Inderjit Singh Gosal, a prominent Khalistani activist.
The bullet hole was later confirmed by Peel Regional Police, who said that they couldn’t yet rule out the possibility of more gunshots having been fired.
Gosal had announced that a pro-Khalistani rally would be taking place outside the Indian consulate in Toronto on Saturday, not long before the shooting took place.
Constable Tyler Bell-Morena said that it was still “too early” to tell if the shooting at Gosal’s new home is connected to his Khalistani-activism, however, that information will be factored into the investigation.
Gosal works closely with Pannun, who was himself potentially the target of a failed assassination plot in New York in December.
The incident was detailed in a 15-page indictment filed in a District Court in Manhattan, that alleged an employee of the Indian government directed the assassination.
This act was connected to a broader plan to assassinate other Sikh separatists living in Canada.
The Indian government has denied involvement with any of the incidents involving Sikh activists being the target of violence abroad, however, the accusations have led to a diplomatic fallout between Canada and India.
“No amount of threats and violence can stop me from advocating for the liberation of Punjab from Indian occupation. I have been heading Khalistan freedom rallies in front of the Indian consulate and I have been targeted for the same very reason that Nijjar was assassinated by Indian agents, ie our campaigning for the Khalistan referendum,” said Gosal in a statement, according to The Guardian.
“This firing [sic] has absolutely been orchestrated by the Indian spy network operating from diplomatic missions in Canada headed by the Indian High Commissioner [Sanjay] Verma.”
