Indo-Canadian Sikh politician threatened through Facebook

“I’m concerned,not afraid,” Dosanjh,who is emerging as secular Sikh leader,told PTI on phone. “The majority of the community is peace loving,but there is a significant minority – and nobody should deny that — that actually perpetuates this hate and violence.”

The Facebook page,entitled ‘Ujjal Dosanjh is a Sikh Traitor’,includes several violent threats against the outspoken Dosanjh,who was severely beaten up in Vancouver in 1985 after speaking against religious violence. The page has had the creators’ names removed.

However,some website users also pleaded for the violent threats to stop.

Dosanjh was threatened in Facebook entries for denouncing what he labelled as “Sikh extremism”.

“Glorification of violence … must be curbed by smart means jointly by both Canadian and Indian governments,” the opposition Liberal MP said.

“The number of people who have continued to perpetuate that kind of hatred has become smaller,but are more consistent and more sophisticated and using high-tech means to spread misinformation.”

Dosanjh said the pro-Khalistan movement is all but dead in India,where Hindus,Sikhs and Muslims are learning to get along,and where a Sikh man is now Prime Minister. But cells are active particularly in Canada and other countries with large Sikh populations,he said.

“It’s only in the diaspora where (the pro-Khalistan movement) exists,” Dosanjh said. “It was born in Canada much before 1984 and transported to India after 1984. That because we have allowed it,without challenging it.

“There is a significant minority here that is obsessively focused on it and it’s passing down generations,which is something reflected in the Facebook group,” he said.