“Whatever injustice had been done with the Sikh community, whateverhappened at the Golden Temple, all that was to be highlighted… by use of legal means,” Gurmej Singh Gill said at the hearing inVancouver, through a Punjabi interpreter. “I wanted the organizationto abide by the British law and do whatever within the law,” hesaid.
VANCOUVER — A BritishSikh man facing deportationfrom Canada admittedWednesday at an immigrationhearing that he once led thebanned Sikh separatist groupBabbar Khalsa in England buthe said that the UK wing of thegroup did not advocate violenceand sought peaceful and lawfulways to protest.Gurmej Singh Gill testified thathis cause was always peacefuland lawful, and the Britishgroup was not linked to otherBabbar Khalsa groups in variousparts of the world, reportedCanadian Press.”I wanted the organization toabide by the British law and dowhatever within the law,” Gillsaid at the hearing in Vancouver,through a Punjabi interpreter.Canada Border Services Agencywants Gill, once a permanentresident, removed from Canada.The 71-year-old was returningto British Columbia on a familymatter when he was stopped byborder officials at Vancouverairport last November andordered to appear before theImmigration and Refugee Gill, who said he travels to Canadaoccasionally, testified on Wednesday thathe was one of five founding members ofBabbar Khalsa in the United Kingdom,and that he led the group from 1984 to1992.He said the group was formed afterthe Golden Temple in Amritsar, Sikhdom’sholiest shrine, was attacked in 1984during a raid by the Indian government toflush out Sikh separatists.Gill said Babbar Khalsa in the U.K.sought a separate Sikh homeland in India,called Khalistan. His role as leader wasto highlight the cause in a lawful manner,he said. “Whatever injustice had beendone with the Sikh community, whateverhappened at the Golden Temple, all thatwas to be highlighted … by use of legalmeans,” he said.The hearing heard that in 2001, Gilltold border officials at Vancouver’s airportthat he was leader of Babbar KhalsaInternational, which was founded in Canadain 1981.But he insisted Wednesday that heonly ever associated with the group inEngland, which Gill said is a separate organization.Gill told the hearing that the nameBabbar Khalsa encompasses the spiritof being “courageous against justice in apeaceful way.”While he is no longer the leader ofBabbar Khalsa, he said he remains theprime minister of a group known as theKhalistan Government in Exile.Courtesy Canadian Press
