The Canadian government, ahead of country’s general elections, has reportedly removed the objectionable title ‘Sikh (Khalistani) extremism’ from 2018 Public Report on the Terrorism Threat to Canada.
Legal counsel, World Sikh Organization (WSO) of Canada Balpreet Singh in a release issued on Saturday informed “ the title “Sikh (Khalistani) Extremism” has been removed and replaced with “Extremists who support violent means to establish an independent state within India”.
He informed that in recent past Canada’s public safety minister Ralph Goodale had acknowledged that “the language used to describe some threats unintentionally maligned certain communities and was not in line with the values of the government of Canada.
Notably, the World Sikh Organization and Sikhs across Canada had expressed their hurt and disappointment at the inclusion of “Sikh (Khalistani) Terrorism” to the 2018 Public Safety Canada Report on Terrorism Threats to Canada.
“The change to the language in the Report follows several months of advocacy on the part of the Sikh community, including a national series of “#AskCanadianSikhs” panels hosted by the WSO in March, as well as a community meeting at Brampton City Hall organized by the Ontario Sikh and Gurdwaras Council and Ontario Gurdwaras Committee in partnership with the WSO” informed WSO president Mukhbir Singh adding that the removal of the term Sikh (Khalistani) Extremism’ from the 2018 Public Safety Terror Report was an important step in addressing the concerns of the Sikh community.
While welcoming the removal of the objectionable term, president of SAD (A) Canada East, Sukhminder Singh Hansra said: “Though I express satisfaction over the change, concern remains under what circumstances did the Trudeau government included these defamatory, derogatory and hurtful words which does not represent Canadian values in the report to begin with”.
 Extremism” has been removed and replaced with “Extremists who support violent means to establish an independent state within India”.){kind=link}