TENSIONS RISE BETWEEN HINDU NATIONALISTS AND SIKHS AT KHALISTAN REFERENDUM SITE

Sun 29 January 2023:

Police used pepper spray on rival protesters in Melbourne on Sunday after thousands of Sikh Victorians voted in a non-binding referendum on the establishment of an independent Sikh state.

At 4.30 p.m., a group of pro-India supporters waving national flags arrived at the voting site in Federation Square, causing a brief scuffle.

Victoria Police said in a statement there had been an earlier scuffle connected to the event at 12.45pm.

Tensions rise between Hindu nationalists and Sikhs at Khalistan referendum site#KhalistanReferendum #Melbourne pic.twitter.com/ui2hS6cpdc

— INDEPENDENT PRESS (@IpIndependent) January 29, 2023

Sikhs for Justice, the US-based group spearheading the non-binding referendum, has proposed a new state called Khalistan, which would take in the Punjab regions of northern India and Pakistan, as well as parts of Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Rajasthan.

Those voting on Sunday were asked to answer yes or no to the referendum question, “Should Indian-governed Punjab be an independent country?”

Tensions have risen within Australia’s large and growing Indian diaspora since the campaign among local secessionists intensified recently, and there have been a spate of graffiti attacks on Hindu temples in Melbourne over the past fortnight.

Many Sikhs assembled on Sunday said their religion had not been respected in India since the country was partitioned in 1947, with Punjab being split between India and Pakistan.

The 2021 census found there were about 210,000 Sikhs in Australia – up from 130,000 in 2016 – with almost half this cohort living in Victoria. The number of Hindus in Australia grew from 440,300 in 2016 to 684,000 in 2021.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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