A little over a week after he was warned away from the Surrey Baisakhi parade, Liberal lawmaker Ujjal Dosanjh received more threats. This time they were posted on Facebook with messages calling him 'a Sikh traitor' and posts like 'someone shoot him ASAP.'
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police is investigating the case. It has emerged that the person who posted the first threat is one Bobby Grewal of London, and the RCMP are in touch with British and other international law enforcement authorities.
'We are aware of them and we are going to look into them (the Facebook comments),' RCMP Inspector Paul Richards has been quoted as saying in the Vancouver Sun. 'We take them very, very seriously.'
Dosanjh was reportedly disturbed by the threats.
"The comments I have seen are violent and hateful,' he has been quoted as saying. 'The intentions are clearly sinister. The imagery expressed ruthlessness and violence clothed in searing hate.'
Deepak Obhrai, Conservative lawmaker and parliamentary secretary to foreign affairs minister, told the House of Commons April 26, 'The government strongly condemns the recent threats of violence made by extremists within the Canadian Sikh community.' He called the threats 'unacceptable.'
These threats come close on the heels of the Surrey Baisakhi parade that included floats bearing portraits of Sikh militants and the proposed flag for Khalistan (the separatist state that Sikh militants wanted in the 1980s), and violent fights in two Brampton gurdwaras.
Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh asked Prime Minister Stephen Harper to monitor the activities of Sikh separatists in Canada when they met in Washington last month for the Nuclear Security Summit.
This year also marks the 25th anniversary of the Air India bombing that killed 329 people, and Air India Public Inquiry report is likely to be released June 4.
Sikh leaders like Toronto lawyer Sat Gosal and former federal minister Herb Dhaliwal say such dissensions are there in most religious groups and believe the community should concentrate on events that showcase the success and contributions of Sikhs in Canada.
