Indian consulate in San Francisco attacked by Khalistani supporters; MEA calls for action

The US Department of State has 'strongly condemned' the act of violence.

A second attack by the pro-Khalistani Sikh organisations on the Consulate General of India in San Francisco has prompted New Delhi to strongly take up the issue with Washington DC even as the United States condemned the incident and termed it “a criminal offence”.

After its envoy to New Delhi, Cameron MacKay, was summoned to the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) and was served a démarche, Ottawa too on Tuesday termed as “unacceptable” the flyers, which were circulated by Khalistani Sikhs in Canada with pictures of India’s diplomats in the North American nation being marked as the “killers”.

Ottawa took its obligation to ensure the safety of all foreign diplomats in Canada under the Vienna Conventions on Diplomatic and Consular Relations 1961 very seriously, tweeted Canadian Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly, apparently in response to New Delhi’s call to ensure the safety and security of Indian diplomats in Canada.

New Delhi asked Canberra and Washington DC to ensure the security of its diplomats posted in Australia and the United States respectively as the pictures of some of them were also marked as “killers” in the propaganda materials circulated by the Khalistani Sikh organisations online. In view of the plan of the Sikhs for Justice and other pro-Khalistani organisations to hold protest rallies in different cities in the three countries on July 8, New Delhi asked Australia, Canada and the US to deny any space to anti-India separatist organisations.

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The rallies were planned to protest the killing of Hardip Singh Nijjar, who was the commander of the Khalistan Tiger Force and was one of the most wanted terrorists in India. He was living at Surrey in Canada. He was shot dead on June 18 last by masked assailants at the parking lot of the local gurdwara that he was heading.

The Khalistanis alleged that Nijjar had been killed by undercover agents working for India.

“The US strongly condemns the reported vandalism and attempted arson against the Indian Consulate in San Francisco on Saturday,” Matthew Miller, a spokesperson of the US State Department, tweeted. “Vandalism or violence against diplomatic facilities or foreign diplomats in the US is a criminal offence.”

The Consulate General of India (CGI) in San Francisco was set ablaze on Sunday, according to Diya TV, a South Asian TV channel based in the US. The damage was limited and no staffer was harmed. A video of the arson with “violence begets violence” on it was circulated on social media platforms.

This was the second attack on the CGI in San Francisco, which had earlier been vandalised by the pro-Khalistani American Sikhs on March 19 to protest the crackdown by the security agencies on the extremists and separatist elements in India.

The crackdown on Waris Punjab De, which would later lead to the arrest of its leader and radical preacher Amritpal Singh, had triggered a wave of protests by the SFJ and other pro-Khalistani organisations in Australia, Canada, the UK and the US. The miscreants had vandalised several Hindu temples in Canada and Australia. Even the statues of Mahatma Gandhi in Canada had not been spared. Not only the CGI in San Francisco but the High Commission in London had also been vandalised. The Embassy of India in Washington DC, the High Commission of India in Ottawa and the Consulate General of India in Toronto had seen protest demonstrations by the SFJ activists.