punjab

Updated: May 03, 2018 20:06 IST

A US-based Khalistani body has issued a threat to Punjab jail minister Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa for his opposition to its referendum on creation of a separate homeland for Sikhs.

The Sikhs for Justice group put out a video and tweeted the threat to the minister.

“Referendum 2020 - Responds to Punjab Jail Minister - Will you come to Canada or should we handle you in India,” said the tweet by Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, a human rights lawyer and legal adviser to ‘Sikhs For Justice’.

The threat came in response to Randhawa’s criticism at a presser of the referendum they had launched in Canada and the United States.

The jail minister had said that the people who were “pitching for Khalistan from their cosy confines were playing with the sentiments of innocent Sikhs in India and they had no knowledge of the reality in Punjab.

Advising the separatists to create a state of Khalistan in the country where they were presently living, Randhawa said, “If someone talks about Khalistan while sitting in Canada, he is the citizen of that country, and it is the problem of (Canadian prime minister, Justin) Trudeau and not mine.”

In a video message tweeted on April 2, the representative of Sikhs for Justice said, “We will make Khalistan in Punjab and we guarantee this.”

Using foul language against the minister, he asked the latter to enter any gurdwara without his bodyguards or security, and “our men will teach you a lesson”.

A group of Sikh separatists in Canada are working to raise anti-India propaganda and create a separate Sikh homeland, Khalistan.

On several occasions, India has raised the issue related to pro-Khalistan activities and activists with the Canadian government.