Australia’s Blacktown City Council cancels Khalistan referendum propaganda event

INTERNATIONAL DESK: Australia’s Blacktown City Council has cancelled Sikhs For Justice’s propaganda referendum event in Sydney, after hundreds of complaints about threats posed by the event, The Australia reported on Friday.

The propaganda event was scheduled to be organised at Blacktown Leisure Centre Stanhope. The booking has now been cancelled after security agencies’ advice.

A Blacktown City Council spokesperson told The Australia Today: “Council’s decision is in no way an endorsement of, or criticism of, any political position relating to the internal affairs of India or Pakistan and must not be represented as support for any particular political position,” he added.

Arvind Gaur is one of the people who complained about terrorists being praised via posters and banners by the Sikhs For Justice propaganda event.

Gaur told The Australia Today that he has received a reply from the council CEO Kerry Robinson explaining that the unauthorised banners and posters are being removed by Council officials and they have sought advice from the (New South Wales) NSW Police.

Robbinson said, “We are removing the banners and posters around the city placed on public property as these have been erected without our approval.”

The Australia Today understands that NSW Police, Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO), the Australian Federal Police (AFP) and the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) were involved while taking a decision to withdraw permission for the Khalistan propaganda event.

As per The Australia Today, an investigation is underway about “Sikhs For Justice Pty Ltd” which is registered in Victoria.

An official close to the matter told The Australia Today, “An connection to unaccounted money trail is what we are looking into.

The Australia Today contacted Sikhs For Justice Pty Ltd. It, however, got no response.

Recently, the BAPS Swaminarayan temple in Australia’s Sydney was found vandalised, The Australia Today reported.

This comes almost two months after temples in Melbourne and Brisbane were vandalised by pro-Khalistan supporters.

According to The Australia Today, a news outlet focused on multicultural communities and the Indian subcontinent, authorities at the temple in Western Sydney’s Rosehill suburb said they found unwanted graffiti on the structure’s front wall and a so-called ‘Khalistan flag’ hanging on its gate.

“When I went this morning for prayers I saw ugly vandalism on the front wall,” a local resident of Harris Park and a daily visitor to the Swaminarayan temple told the Australian media outlet.

The Australia Today media report said it understands that local police were notified by the temple management as early as 7 am, and the latter has told the media outlet that NSW Police officers have attended the temple and CCTV footage has been provided to assist them in the investigations.

Earlier this year too, there were reports of temple vandalisation in Australia. Three temples in Melbourne and two in Brisbane were vandalised by Khalistan supporters.

In the US and Canada too, the pro-Khalistan supporters had attempted on various occasions to vandalise temples and Indian diplomatic installations after police in India lodged a manhunt on radicalist Amritpal Singh. The radical preacher of separatism was on the run for over a month and surrendered before Punjab Police on April 23 from Moga. He was later flown to Assam’s Dibrugarh jail, where several of his aides were kept and booked under the stringent National Security Act. (ANI)