Last update:Dec 01, 2024 12:06 IST

The Indian diplomats have organized a consular camp at Lakshmi Narayan Mandir in Scarborough to help senior Indian nationals with pension payments.

Pro-Khalistani protesters outside the Indian Consulate in Toronto, Canada | File image/AFP

A visit by Indian consulates to a Hindu temple in the Greater Toronto Area sparked renewed protests by pro-Khalistani elements, despite a recent court order banning such activities outside the place of worship.

The Indian diplomats have organized a consular camp at the Lakshmi Narayan Mandir in Scarborough to help elderly Indian nationals retire, a Canadian journalist reported.

Images from the protest showed Khalistanis shouting slogans against the Indian government, allegedly over the killing of Khalistani terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Surrey, Canada, last year.

The Canadian journalist who covered the incident accused the Khalistanis of trying to destabilize India-Canada relations by staging such protests and disrupting Indian consular camps.

The protesters, who reportedly belong to Sikhs for Justice, an organization that advocates for the establishment of an independent Sikh state in India, called on Canada to close the Indian consulate.

“This is not an issue of Sikhs against any religious group. “This is the Sikh community opposing the Indian government and its fascist regime, openly promoting violence and targeting Sikhs who are merely raising awareness and raising their voices for a free and sovereign Punjab,” Kuljeet Singh said , a spokesperson for Sikhs for Justice quoted by CBC News.

It comes just days after a Canadian court granted a Toronto temple an injunction preventing protesters from gathering within 100 meters of the site because it is hosting a consular camp that day.

The consular camps, which care for older retirees from diverse religious backgrounds including Hindus, Sikhs, Muslims and Christians, were once peaceful places to access government services. However, they have now become centers of political unrest.