American Sikh Group Campaigns Seeks ‘Genocide Motion’ In Canada

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OTTAWA – A US-based Sikh group has launched a campaign for tabling a motion in Canadian Parliament for debating whether the killing of Sikhs during the 1984 massacre of Sikhs in India can be defined as “genocide” as per a UN convention.

Sikhs for Justice (SFJ) will be lobbying with members of the Canadian Parliament seeking support for its demand that a ‘Genocide Motion’ be tabled in the Canadian Parliament on November 1 and has launched a signature campaign for its demand, SFJ Legal Advisor Gurpatwant Pannun said.

“The Motion will debate whether the organised killing of Sikhs in India in November 1984 was genocide as defined in Article 2 of the UN Convention on Genocide,” Pannun said.

Pannun said the group will collect almost 1,00,000 signatures to press the newly elected Parliament to stand with the victims of November 1984.

The signature campaign was launched on September 11.

A petition asking the Canadian government to recognise the 1984 Sikh massacre as ‘genocide’ was presented in the country’s Parliament in June 2010.

The government had then said there is not sufficient evidence to determine that the killings can be termed as genocide.