Canada school cancels ‘Khalistan Referendum’ after posters with AK-47, Talwinder Singh Parmar put up

Canadian authorities on Sunday withdrew permission to hold a ‘Khalistan Referendum’ event at a school slated for September 10, citing a ‘violation’ in their rental agreement.

The Surrey District School Board, where the voting was scheduled, said in their release that the organisers of the event had used images of AK-47 and a kirpan alongside school images, reported Hindustan Times.

“Despite repeated attempts to address the issue, the event organisers failed to remove these concerning images, and materials continued to be posted throughout Surrey and on social media,” the school board wrote in their release. 

The school’s decision to call off the voting was “welcomed” by the president of Surrey-based Friends of Canada, Mainider Gill. 

Emphasising the need to provide a safe environment for the school community, the school’s statement said that anyone renting their facilities must adhere to their set of policies and guidelines. 

“As a school district, our primary mission is to provide quality education and support to our students and ensure a safe environment for our school communities. Our agreements, policies and guidelines, including those for rentals, support our district in creating a safe environment for our community. Anyone renting our facilities must adhere to this,” the release read. 

This comes after the school faced severe backlash over “daylight promotion of gun violence.”

Prior to the cancellation of the referendum, several Indo-Canadians had written to the school board expressing their displeasure over using a government school for the Kalistani Referendum. They had claimed posters of Talwinder Singh Parmar, the main accused in the 1985 Air India flight 182 bombing, were all over the school. 

The issues that the residents of Surrey had raised in the letter were directed to Mayor Brenda Locke during a radio interview where she reportedly clarified the city's stand against endorsing Khalistani activities.

“She clarified that the city does not and has never endorsed the Khalistani Movement or referendum activities planned for Tamanawis Secondary School or any other Surrey-controlled premises. Surrey City Council has no legal say in how Surrey School District uses school premises. She also strongly condemned the posters depicting an AK-47 automatic weapon as absolutely unacceptable,” claimed the host of the radio talk show. 

While a fresh date for the referendum is yet to be announced, the Sikhs for Justice general counsel Gurpatwant Pannun has called the Kalistan elements in Canada to lock down India’s Consulate in Vancouver on September 8.