A pro-Khalistan march took place in Canada’s Ontario province to mark the ‘Khalsa Day’ on Sunday.
The six kilometre-long march from Malton to Rexdale in Toronto area was attended by opposition Conservative Party of Canada (CPC) leader Pierre Poilievre and other opposition politicians, according to a social media post by Poilievre.
Social media posts by members of the Indian-Canadian community show that pro-Khalistan slogs and anti-India posters were raised during the procession.
Balraj Deol, a former editor living in Brampton, said on social media that pro-Khalistan banners accusing Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and External Affairs Minister (EAM) S Jaishankar were erected along the route of the march.
Other banners called for Sikh-Canadians to vote in another 'Khalistan Referendum' scheduled to take place in July in the Calgary province, according to social media posts.
Ontario’s Premier Doug Ford also attended the pro-Khalistan gathering, according to a social media post shared by him.
Pro-Khalistan activists, including banned terrorist group Dal Khalsa’s spokesperson Paramjit Singh Mand and Avtar Singh Pannu, a listed terrorist and the coordinator for Sikhs for Justice (SFJ), delivered inflammatory speeches targeting the Indian leadership during the event.
The pro-Khalistan march took place a week after another controversial pro-Khalistan event took place in Toronto. The event, which saw attendees raising separatist slogans in front of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, sparked a diplomatic row with India.
In the wake of the Toronto event, India's Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) summoned the Canada's Deputy High Commissioner in New Delhi over the "raising of separatist slogans on Khalistan".
The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said in a statement that the event demonstrated that "political space that has been given in Canada to separatism, extremism and violence".
The pro-Khalistan march on Sunday was held a couple of days after the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) announced that it had arrested three Indian citizens, who came to Canada on a student visa, in connection with the killing of designated terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar, who was gunned down in Vancouver last June.
A report in Canada's state broadcaster said that the arrested individuals were linked to jailed Indian gangster Lawrence Bishnoi, though the police has said that those links were still being probed.