Questions are being asked as to why an Indian national recently arrested in the USA is being called a “Khalistani” (free Sikh homeland supporter) by the FBI, after previous Indian police reports made no such references.

Harpeet Singh aka Happy Passia was arrested on 17^th April in Sacramento (California) based on a ‘wanted’ notice by India for being a “Khalistani terrorist” responsible for “terror attacks across Punjab”, according to a release by FBI Sacramento. However, Passia has previously been cited as a Lawrence Bishnoi gang associate with no connection to Khalistan, according to India police just months ago.

See a video of this from X here.

In the FBI release, Passia is linked with Babbar Khalsa International but when mentioned on several occasions earlier this year by Indian authorities and media regarding India’s AGTF (Anti-Gangster Task Force) crackdown, he was never associated with Khalistan, and instead associated with the ultranationalist street crime outfit the Lawrence Bishnoi gang.

Babbar Khalsa International were a Sikh freedom fighter group, praised by many Sikhs for being viewed as leading the resistance against India’s Sikh genocide. BKI were designated a terror outfit by some Western nations, although links to any official acts of terror against civilians remain much disputed.

All previous reports referencing Passia prior to 17^th April simply acknowledge he was a gangster involved in gun-running, with no political agenda connected to his criminality. One article even reports how Passia’s family have reported being targeted for extortion in India by police.

NOTE- In general, The Sikh Press Association will not hyperlink references to Indian media news stories, as most such outlets are often manipulated to push anti-Sikh narratives to support India’s Hindu nationalist agenda. However, on this occasion we share the following as a few examples of proof of how Happy Passia was never linked to Khalistan until his recent arrest. Sikh PA also wish to highlight that often past Indian media news stories which do not fit nationalistic narratives can be scrubbed from the internet.

• Pak-based terrorist Rinda, US-based gangster Passia behind Chandigarh blast, 1 held – The Economic Times
• (13) Punjab Spectrum on X: “#AGTF, Punjab in a joint operation with Central agencies has arrested Kailash Khichan, a key operative of #Pakistan-based terrorist Rinda & #USA-based Happy Passia – says @DGPPunjabPolice https://t.co/GrNyeKPsNq” / X
• Babushahi.com

The Lawrence Bishnoi gang he is associated with according to the police’s own commentary are notoriously anti-Khalistan, considering themselves street-level enforcers targeting those considered anti-national. As such, the sudden labelling of a noted Bishnoi associate as “Khalistani” is raising questions from within Sikh circles. It is also being noted Happy Passia was never seen in a dastaar (Sikh turban) before his recent arrest. No current Indian media reports based on his recent arrest mention his previous ties to the Bishnoi gang.

The FBI Sacramento branch is headed by Siddhartha Patel, who would have had to approve the official statement claiming Passia is associated with the Khalistan movement. Siddhartha’s own boss – head of the FBI Kash Patel (no relation) – did not mention Khalistan in his own post about the arrest. However, he did make the claim that Passia was “planning multiple attacks on police stations both in India and the United States”. Why a Khalistan supporter would plan attacks on police stations in the USA is unclear and unrelated to any current sentiment being espoused from any factions of the movement. Contrastingly, US authorities and the current Trump administration are widely praised by various Khalistan groups, especially after the FBI foiled an Indian State plot to assassinate leading activist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun in his home city of New York in 2023. Known Indian trafficker Nikhil Gupta remains on trial for the murder attempt, even saying in court it was a “mission assigned by the Indian government”.

Indian authorities have previously been exposed claiming Punjab origin gangsters are Khalistanis, in effort to portray the movement as criminal. The case of Sukhdool Singh Gill in 2023 was especially telling. Sukhdhool was murdered in Winnipeg (Manitoba, Canada). Yet, Indian media outlets and nationalist social media accounts posted about his death before any Canadian media or even local authorities. The murder occurred just hours after his name and a picture allegedly of him (which his Winnipeg neighbours did not recognise) appeared on a “terror hit list” of targets wanted by India’s NIA (National Investigation Agency- intelligence services). Despite all of this, CBC News still quoted a Punjab officer as saying Sukhdool was “a criminal, not a terrorist”. Just as in the case of Passia, no clear links show any affiliation to him and the Khalistan movement, including social media posts, appearances at Khalistan events, or anything akin.

Fears of Indian nationalist interference in USA political affairs will only be further fuelled with the confusing situation of Harpreet Singh aka Happy Passia. Whether the FBI’s Patels will be keen to address the confusion remains to be seen.

Media inquiries- media@sikhpa.com

A notorious Hindutva (Hindu extremist) figure with links to India’s Prime Minister and the UK Conservative Party has called for Hindus to pay “London mafia” to “take war to the homes” of Sikhs.

The radical rallying call from Major Gaurav Arya, a former Indian Army officer turned nationalist Youtuber who has accusations of rape and murder hanging over him, came after a Sikh protest in London against Dr S Jaishankar, India’s external affairs minister (5.03.25). In 2023 Arya claimed on video UK Sikh activist Shaheed (Sikh martyr) Bhai Avtar Singh Khanda would soon be “eliminated”, just two months before Khanda died of suspected poisoning, making his call for terrorism in the UK all the more alarming.

The protest against Jaishankar – which displayed support for Khalistan (free Sikh homeland movement) – was part of ongoing global Sikh efforts to hold senior Indian politicians accountable for a transnational repression campaign targeting Sikhs, which is linked with not only the death of Khanda, but several other Sikh activist figures in India and beyond, including the assassination of Shaheed Bhai Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Canada and also the foiled assassination of Gurpatwant Singh Pannun in the USA. Both those 2023 incidents have led to arrests, with trials ongoing against the Indian State terror agents behind the attacks.

Arya’s latest unhinged rant began with an accusation directly towards the UK’s Labour government, claiming they orchestrated the “attack” on Jaishankar. However, no attack occurred, although Indian media and nationalist figures continue to use such terminology to describe the protest and specifically an incident which saw one man tear an Indian flag in front of a car possibly containing Jaishankar. No arrests were reported during the peaceful protest.

Also included in Arya’s call for extremism were claims:

• “this world is not your family” to Hindus, and only India should be important to them
• Hindu places of worship will be attacked in the UK
• Hindus should buy guns as the “UK government will not protect” them without a right-wing government
• Reiterating calls for anyone supporting Khalistan to be banned from India, and their families in India to be targeted with violence too

Concerningly in the eyes of many Sikhs, MP Bob Blackman and government faith advisor Colin Bloom parroted the Indian nationalist baseless claims of an “attack” on Jaishankar. Blackman has previously been found to be taking money from pro-Indian nationalist groups, whilst Colin Bloom became a prominent Indian media pundit for his views on Khalistan in recent years, which were heavily criticised by Sikh groups for citing wikipedia among sources for pseudo-academic claims about Khalistan.

The tangible growth of Hindutva in the UK underlines the danger of Arya’s call for violence against Sikhs. Arya toured the UK in 2017 where he claims he spoke at Oxford University and King’s College. On the tour, Arya was the celebrated guest at an evening celebrating UK-India ties in UK Parliament, held by Harrow-East (an area known as the mini-Gujarat of the UK) Conservative MP Bob Blackman, who himself is notorious for his propagandism for the Indian State. During the evening, Arya was openly celebrated by disgraced Conservative Lord Rami Ranger, who was recently stripped of his CBE, and former senior Conservative MP Sajid Javid. Similarly to Arya, Ranger has also openly threatened violence towards UK Sikhs critical of India.

With 3.6million subscribers, Arya has become one of Youtube’s most viewed Indian political commentators, even though he is accused by his former maid of raping her and murdering her husband when he complained about the abuse. Through his army links, Arya is seen as someone who provides an authentic insight into the nationalist pseudo-security policies of the Indian State, mainly on the basis of targeting minorities cited as anti-national. Arya is followed on X (Twitter) by Modi and acts as a rabid supporter of the BJP leader.

The fanatical rallying-call for Hindu terrorism in the UK is not the first of its kind from Arya. Among countless calls for violence and foreign interference, Arya has also called for India to fund criminals in the USA to attack Sikhs, bragged about influencing Canada’s right-wing and even threatened world renowned Nobel peace prize nominated UK based Sikh humanitarian Ravi Singh.

Speaking on the video, Sikh Press Association Senior Press Officer Jasveer Singh said:

“Gaurav Arya is issuing direct calls for violence in the UK for an Indian nationalist agenda. Supporting Khalistan is a right Sikhs are free to practice in the UK and everywhere else in the world, except for India. Yet, that is not preventing India from attempting to crush this support all over the world too.

“Over the last 18-months, Canada, the USA, even Australia joined Germany in seriously addressing Indian interference within their borders. The UK has been pressed to do the same but has not done so, despite ample evidence of the issue. However, after this blatant call for Hindutva terror in the UK, Sikh groups across the globe will be expecting Prime Minister Keir Starmer to strongly condemn Arya and address Indian interference too. Anything less may be considered a sign that India has free-reign to carry out anti-Sikh terrorism in the UK.”

The Liberal Party of Canada is facing calls to withdraw Viresh Bansal from his standing in Oshawa (Ontario), after the MP candidate was found making online anti-Sikh threats of violence, including to the current Conservative Party Deputy Leader.

India-born Hindu Bansal was exposed this week for tweets in March 2023 which include homophobia, as well as anti-Sikh and anti-Canadian rhetoric. In one particularly chilling tweet, Bansal tells Conservative Party Deputy Leader Tim Uppal to “Take care of your own” before threatening “maybe you too could get beaten up” in Punjabi.

Leading national advocacy body World Sikh Organization released a press release calling for “Ontario Liberal Party to withdraw Viresh Bansal as their candidate for Oshawa” in the upcoming provincial election next week based on his “hate filled tweets”. In a statement (see below), WSO President Danish Singh also condemned the “homophobic rhetoric” used as part of a pattern “targeting Sikh politicians”, including NDP leader Jagmeet Singh. In one tweet to Jagmeet Singh, Bansal also appears to call Canadians “trash people”. The WSO stated they also identified other anti-Sikh tweets from Bansal, although he has since deleted many of his previous posts.

One tweet was in direct response to Uppal addressing wider concerns of India’s #PunjabUnderSiege operation in March 2023, which saw internet and phone services blocked in parts of the state, covering up over 1500 of detainments of Sikh activists, politicians and community figures. Read more on that situation here.

Thus far, the Liberal Party have failed to act to prevent Bansal’s standing, prompting concern about how seriously the party takes anti-Sikh hate. This is not the first time the party have been accused of such an issue. Previous incidents regarding MP Chandra Arya – another India-born Hindu man – have seen Sikh groups press for action from Justin Trudeau’s party (the recently resigned leader who has been replaced by Mark Carney since).

In response to the exposing of his anti-Sikh tweets, Bansal released a statement which offered an apology but no resignation. Similarly, Liberal Party Ontario leader Bonnie Crombie condemned the comments but did not say the party would be withdrawing Bansal’s standing, or taking any further action.

Sikh groups remain waiting on further action by the Liberal Party against Bansal before the upcoming national election takes place.

The World Sikh Parliament is the latest Sikh organisation lending weight to a campaign – which includes a petition signed by over 6000 people – aimed at addressing anti-Sikh hate TikTok.

In a letter (see below, released 31st Jan), the global Sikh lobbying network called for “global solidarity” between Sikh organisations as “law enforcement conducts its investigations” into an ongoing issue of beadbi (sacrilege) involving desecration of Gurbani (Guru’s word, Sikh scripture).

The letter relates to a longtime anti-Sikh hate campaign which sees individuals – usually of Pakistani/Afghan/Kashmiri Muslim background – disrespecting Sikh scripture both verbally and physically in TikTok videos designed to provoke and insult the faith. The videos are uploaded to TikTok and then often circulated through Whatsapp. The issue is at least two-years-old. Countless Sikhs have reported such content to TikTok, and Sikh PA is among various Sikh orgs to have contacted the social media giants directly, in attempts to have the hate campaign addressed. The fanatical perpetrators are believed to have often been triggered from religious debates on TikTok and parchar (Sikh education) which details differences between the faiths and the Sikh history of resistance against Islamic extremism. The acts of beadbi are commonly done on TikTok livestreams.

In September of last year a Pakistani Muslim man in Australia was convicted of “Conduct intended to racially harass” for being found to be behind acts of beadbi, some of which was filmed in-and-outside a Perth Gurdwara. In December 2024 it was confirmed the anti-Sikh criminal Khizar Hayat (21-years-old) would be deported for the crime. Read more here.

A petition started by the Sikh Army community group is calling for UK law to change to help address the issue. In Sikhi, Gurbani in written form is considered sacred and Guru Granth Sahib Ji (scriptural Guru) is revered as the current living Guru of the Sikhs. Over 6000 people have currently signed the petition which calls for UK law to “recognise Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji as a Living Guru, not a religious book”, a change which would force acts of beadbi to be taken more seriously legally.

See the petition here- Petition · Amend Law to Recognise Guru Granth Sahib Ji as a Living Guru instead of a Religious Book – United Kingdom · Change.org.

The petition is partly aimed at forcing TikTok to address the anti-Sikh hate occurring on the app, which also includes “grooming”, where vulnerable users are targeted by other users aiming to bully/coerce them into converting, which is then used to distance the target from their families for nefarious reasons.

Speaking on the petition, Sikh Army state:

“We are deeply concerned regarding the unregulated nature of TikTok and the significant dangers it poses to the Sikh community. These actions are not only deeply offensive and hurtful but also contribute to the growing tensions and divisions among different religious groups.

“For over nine months, a group of concerned Sikhs have been working together to highlight and report these incidents but this has resulted in ‘no violations committed’ meaning there are no breaches made to TikTok’s Community Guidelines. A petition has gathered 6000+ signatures to give Sri Guru Granth Sahib Maharaj Ji a status of a living entity, so that we can more effectively take legal action against perpetrators of beadbi. TikTok have been approached to set up a meeting to discuss how its reporting mechanism can be improved to block users committing online grooming and beadbi.”

Sikh groups remain waiting on action by TikTok or any UK authorities willing to look into the situation.

Sikh groups across the world have been protesting at cinema’s regarding last week’s release of the film Emergency, a biopic of former India Prime Minister Indira Gandhi considered anti-Sikh propaganda.

Emergency is viewed as anti-Sikh Indian State propaganda for its depiction of ex-Prime Minister Indira Gandhi’s role in the Sikh genocide and portrayals of revered Sikh figures. More protests are expected to take place, depending on whether cinemas continue to show the film.

Cancellations of the film, which is a creation of notorious anti-Sikh figure and actor/politician Kangana Ranaut, have occurred in Melbourne (Australia), Toronto (Canada), Manchester, London, Birmingham, Slough, Staines and Telford (UK). Grassroots community groups Shere Panjab UK, AK Media and Sikh Army have been helping coordinate peaceful demonstrations against the film. Groups including Sikh Council UK have called for the film to be banned.

In some instances, Sikh demonstrators – usually masked to help protect their identities, based on Indian transnational repression targeting activists – have managed to see films cancelled through dialogue with cinema staff. However, in other instances, Sikh groups have entered showings to demonstrate as the film paid, resulting in the showing being cancelled midway through. No arrests, nor reports of violence or any incidents of note have been made. Protesters have stringently videoed much of the interactions, reflecting civil protest and clear explanations against the film.

Sikh PA Senior Press Officer Jasveer Singh said of the protests:

“Emergency” is viewed by Sikh groups as Indian State propaganda, not a film or art. It provably displays inaccurate information which maligns revered Sikh figures. Such content perpetuates anti-Sikh hate and Indian State stereotypes demonizing the community, which makes up approximately just 2% of India. The theatres showing this nationalist propaganda are supporting something which poses a danger to Sikh communities today, justifying anti-Sikh hate, which is currently a major concern amid an uptake in India’s transnational violence.”

Last year leading Sikh body the SGPC requested the film to be banned by India for inflammatory anti-Sikh content, which was on view from the first trailer release, and has since been confirmed by sevadaars (selfless servants) whom watched the film to review its content, specifically referencing the anti-Sikh history of creator Kangana Ranaut, someone previously admonished for calling for another Sikh genocide, among a long list of anti-Sikh and anti-Punjabi comments, seemingly starting from the 2020 Farmers Protest. Ranaut is currently a sitting MP for the extremist nationalist BJP, India’s in-power party led by Narendra Modi, known to push Hindutva (Hindu extremism).

Speaking to Sikh PA, one UK protester who wished to remain anonymous said:

“It is a disgrace that UK cinemas can show such films, which are pure anti-Sikh propaganda from India. These businesses need to vet what they show better, because they are pushing hate against Sikhs. Thankfully, nearly all cinema staff have understood our position and supported our stance in having the film removed from listings. It is unfair to these workers to have to defend Indian State propaganda.

“This is also why most of us have chosen to remain anonymous. India targets Sikhs, and even our families back in Punjab. Look at what happened with Shaheed Bhai Avtar Singh Khanda and Shaheed Bhai Hardeep Singh Nijjar. We are choosing to remain as safe as possible whilst exercising our right to peacefully protest.”

Thus far, no cinema groups – such as Cineworld or Vue – have released any official statements about the issue.