3 Canadian cities dedicate Sept 6 to rights activist Jaswant Singh Khalra

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Amritsar, August 31

Mayors of three Canadian cities — Burnaby, New Westminster and Brampton — have signed a proclamation to observe September 6 as “Jaswant Singh Khalra Day” to mark the 25th death anniversary of the human rights activist. He hailed from Khalra village in Tarn Taran district.

The proclamation reads “Jaswant Singh Khalra was a strong advocate of democratic and civil rights and a highly respected leader of Sikh community. September 6 is a historically important date recognised by Sikhs and South Asians all across Canada in commemoration of his death in 1995.”

Khalra was investigating extra-judicial killings of Sikh political activists in Punjab, when he was kidnapped by the police on September 6, 1995. He had visited Canada during the same year to educate the Indian diaspora and Canadian politicians about human rights violation in Punjab. Khalra had detected more than 2,500 such cases.