Sikhs and Punjabis abroad still feel a close affinity with India, but “the Indian government never believed that,” said Mr. Satnam Singh Chahal, executive director of the North American Association of Punjabi, a California-based nonprofit organization.

“There is a sad trend of Indian embassy officials tormenting the diaspora with bribes, racial stereotyping of criminality and constant surveillance,” added Mr Chahal, whose organization campaigned to expel some Indian diplomats for abuse and corruption in the past.

He recalls that a consulate official asked him a few years ago to “find someone as an informant for me,” which Mr. Chahal said he refused to do.

Another Sikh American told ST that an embassy official asked him to meet after hours in 2022 “to discuss” restoring his permanent residency in exchange for “cooperation”. “I didn’t pursue it,” the American said.

Both requested that ST release only partial details of these incidents in order to protect the identities of those involved.

Mr. Verma, who was expelled by Canada along with five other Indian diplomats, had told CTV that embassy officials had not done anything secretly, but had “openly” collected information on pro -Khalistanis in Canada in “my national interest”.

Ottawa’s Commission on Foreign Interference, which initially investigated China’s alleged interference in Canada’s 2019 and 2021 elections, is now hearing evidence that Indian agencies are monitoring and threatening dissidents, and is engage in campaigns to pressure Canada to criminalize Sikh activism.

The United States also indicted two Indian nationals, including a former Indian intelligence officer, for attempting to assassinate American Sikh separatist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun.

Mr Pannun’s organization, Sikhs for Justice – based in the United States – is banned in India and he himself is accused of promoting terrorism.

“Stuck between polarized points of view”

Except for a small minority ideologically committed to the creation of a Sikh-only state, most Sikhs were agnostic toward Khalistan, said Dr. Pritam Singh, professor emeritus of economics at the Oxford Brookes University in England.

But Mr. Nijjar’s assassination and allegations of Indian state involvement have “rekindled latent anger” over New Delhi’s “erosion of federal powers like river water rights in Punjab.” “, the repression of criticism such as during the farmers’ protests and the way the government expresses any expression of its opinions. historical as well as anti-national grievances, he added.

“Khalistan has today become a protest slogan rather than a political aspiration. »

Although Sikhs are minorities in Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia, the religion’s reformist origin makes the community politically, socially active and vocal, Dr. Singh noted.

Previously, most of the Sikh diaspora was of peasant origin. Many are now professors, lawyers, doctors, accountants, politicians and economists. “They express themselves better, have better contacts and know how to assert their democratic rights,” he said.

Mr. Gurpreet Singh, Canadian Sikh news anchor for Spice Radio in Vancouver, said that “a distinct Sikh homeland has no appeal to me and most other members of the global liberal Sikh diaspora, but the assassination of Nijjar gave oxygen to the Khalistan movement.”

“Those who had never spoken about Khalistan before and considered the arsonist Khalistanis as secret Indian collaborators who divided the Sikhs are now joining the rallies and referendums,” he said.

“The great tragedy of transnational repression is that the space reserved for moderate and secular people is shrinking. We feel stuck between polarized views, where you either have to be pro-Khalistani or pro-Modi,” he added.

While some gurudwaras, or Sikh places of worship, in the United States, United Kingdom and Canada allow the peaceful promotion of Khalistan, others have banned any discussion of it.

Ms Kamal Preet Kaur, Labor Party councilor for the London borough of Hillingdon, noted that in the UK, US and Canada, “pro-Khalistan and pro-BJP rallies regularly clash these days -this”.

“One organizes a rally, the other responds, both take to the streets to fight the narrative battle,” she said.

She expects October 31 – the 40th anniversary of the 1984 massacre – to be marked by “numerous rallies, perhaps clashes, and increased security around the Indian embassy”.

Sharing Ms. Kaur’s concerns about the effects of this growing polarization, Mr. Pav Singh is also set to release 1984 Sikh Archive, a comprehensive online record of witness affidavits and photographs of the massacre and its aftermath.

It aims to expose the young diaspora of Indian origin to complex stories “beyond the propaganda of extremists on both sides”.