Akali Dal leader Manjit Singh GK attacked by Khalistan supporters in New York

Akali Dal leader, Manjit Singh GK and his family were attacked in New York on Tuesday by Khalistani supporters. GK, who is also the president of Delhi Sikh Gurudwara Management Committee (DSGMC), posted a video information about the incident which took place after he was coming out of a TV studio. In a tweet about the attack, he said a group of people attacked him and his relatives in New York. He said such attacks will not scare him from working for his community. He also tagged  External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj in the tweet.

A group of people attacked me & my relatives in #NewYork. This will not scare me away from my path to serve the community. I have fought & I will fight till my last breath.Such cowardly incidents do not scare me.🙏 @SushmaSwaraj @USAmbIndia @IndiainNewYork https://t.co/au9SUx1qrt

— Manjit Singh GK (@ManjitGK) August 21, 2018

Speaking to Republic, GK stated that the men who attacked him were from ISI and were under ‘nasha’ (intoxicated). “I came out of a TV channel debate. People under ‘nasha’ attacked me and my family. They want to crush any voice from India. They’re from ISI. We fight for our cause, justice for 84, justice for our community. No doubt they’re from ISI,” GK said. On 20 August, he faced a protest for Bagari shootout outside a gurudwara in New York by Sikh Coordination Committee East Coast (USA), according to The Financial Express. The committee had held Punjab government headed by SAD’s Amarinder Singh responsible for the Bargari shootout in Punjab. The Khalistan movement is a Sikh nationalist movement, which seeks to create a separate country called Khalistan in the Punjab region of South Asia. Pro-Khalistani supporters on 13 August assembled at Trafalgar Square in London in a rally organised by the SFJ, intended to raise awareness for a non-binding referendum in 2020, calling for the Sikh-majority state of Punjab to be granted “independence”. In 2017, a group of Sikhs held a protest outside the UN headquarters in New York against the Indian Constitution, raising pro-Khalistan slogans and demanding the world body’s intervention to protect the community.