Pakistan, citing the covid-19 pandemic, denied permission to a Sikh jatha (group of pilgrims) that was scheduled to visit it via the Attari-Wagah border on June 21. The jatha was to stay in Pakistan for 10 days and was to commemorate the death of Maharaja Ranjit Singh at Gurdwara Dehra Sahib in Lahore on June 29, besides visiting Sikh religious places.

The Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) president Bibi Jagir Kaur wrote a letter to the Pakistan government and urged to repair Gurdwara Nanaksar Sahib built in the memory of Sri Guru Nanak Dev situated in Chakk Fateh Bhinder village in Daska tehsil of Sialkot district in Punjab provinces of Pakistan. The SGPC president has urged the Pakistan government to pay special attention towards the maintenance of Gurdwara Nanaksar Sahib in Sialkot district, by getting the shrine repaired immediately. "If the Pakistan government has any difficulty in the Sikh shrine, then the service of this shrine should be handed over to the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee, Sri Amritsar. The SGPC is ready to do Sewa (voluntary service) of this place," she said.

According to reports, Sikhs in Pakistan took out an anti-India rally in Nankana Sahib to condemn the attack on the Golden Temple by Indian forces in June 1984. Sources said that rally participants held placards and banners with anti-India slogans. The protesters led by pro-Khalistani leader Gopal Singh Chawla demanded of the United Nations to take action against Indian culprits involved in the massacre of Sikhs in 1984.

The Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) said that Pakistan government, citing the second wave of Covid-19, has denied permission to a group of Sikh pilgrims from India who wanted to visit the historic Gurdwara Dera Sahib in Lahore to mark the martyrdom day Guru Arjan Dev, the fifth Sikh Guru.

In a response to Canada MP Jagmeet Singh’s politicism over Islamophobia in Canada, journalist and author Tarek Fatah stated that "Let me assure you Mr. Singh, both as a New Democrat and as a Muslim, it is only in Canada that I feel safe as a Muslim. Not in your imaginary Khalistan or in Iran, Turkey, or Pakistan that fuels much of the terrorism and hate around the world out of their consulates and embassies in Europe and North America."

The pro-Khalistani separatist group, Sikhs for Justice (SFJ) said that the government of India has blocked a Canadian website that aims to raise funds for COVID-19 patients abroad. Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, a lawyer and chief of SFJ, said it launched a website (OxygenFund.org) on April 27 to connect patients in four Indian states with donations to buy liquid oxygen. However, the group launched another site April 29, Oxygen4Punjab.org, which was blocked again within hours. Though the government of India didn’t respond to it, Anshuman Gaur, India's deputy high commissioner to Canada, said that his government has labelled SFJ a terrorist group, but could not comment on whether the state blocked its site.

According to reports, Punjabi smugglers figure among top three notorious gangs in Canada behind the biker gangs and Vietnamese groups. The Punjabi gangs have hogged international limelight these days with the Canada police claiming on April 19 that they have broken a major drug cartel run mainly by Punjabis. Out of 33 persons charged for the possession of drugs and firearms besides huge currency and a gold-plated car, nearly 25 were of Punjabi origin. According to a report from Canada said about 21 per cent of gangsters died in gang-wars or police operations since 2006 were of Punjabi region. Their activities are of high concern back home in Punjab as some of the gangs have been linked to either arrested or wanted smugglers. The main being the gangs of Devinder Dev, Kamaljit Chauhan and Amarinder Singh Chhina. The Punjab Police and NCB officials said Dev even had links with the Jagdish Bhola gang. These persons had used Punjab as the base to transport drugs to Canada, the USA and Australia through the Golden Crescent of drugs network featuring Pakistan and Afghanistan.

In a major operation, Canadian law enforcement arrested and charged over two dozen persons, mostly Indo-Canadians with roots in Punjab, with participating in transnational drug trafficking activities. The drugs were being illegally brought into the country from the US - primarily from California - and also from India. York Regional Police (YRP), which led the investigation and the subsequent crackdown, said that multiple agencies worked on the operation that “dismantled a large-scale international drug trafficking network that extended to western Canada, the United States and India”. The investigation, named “Project Cheetah”, began in May last year (2020) and penetrated “a robust network” involved in importing large quantities of banned drugs into Canada. “The drugs were then distributed across the country through a sophisticated system run by the traffickers,” YRP said. On April 8, police in the Canadian provinces of Ontario and British Columbia as well as in California executed over 50 search warrants, resulting in 33 people being charged with over 130 offences. Among them, 27 were arrested and charged in the Greater Toronto Area, with 19 of them hailing from the town of Brampton. Of these, 23 are of Punjabi origin. One suspect, Gurbinder Sooch, remains at large.

According to reports, two Indian flags were set on fire and stamped on during a remembrance march and "freedom rally" by some Khalistani supporters in London, United Kingdom, held to mark the anniversary of 1984 Operation Blue Star. The report quoted the Indian High Commission in London as saying that it was "extremely concerned and distressed" by what happened and vowed it would take action against those who desecrated the national flag. The incident reportedly took place at Trafalgar Square and some bystanders shouted "Khalistan Zindabad". Pro-Khalistani British Sikhs marched in London city, which started from Wellington Arch, led by the Panj Pyare, the five beloveds with their swords drawn, passed through the iconic route of the Constitution Hill and The Mall to Trafalgar Square. Addressing the march, the Sikh leaders said the events of 1984 took place 37 years after India gained independence in 1947, but the horror memories of those events would live forever in the minds of millions of Sikhs around the world, who feel deeply aggrieved at the Indian atrocities during the genocide carried out by the Indian Army.

India refuted as absolutely untrue allegations that a British Sikh man arrested on charges relating to terrorism is being tortured in Tihar Jail in New Delhi after group of demonstrators staged a protest outside 10 Downing Street in London. The Indian High Commission in London in a statement said, Jagtar Singh Johal has been arrested on serious charges relating to terrorism. It is untrue that he is being held without any charges. The prosecuting agency, NIA (National Investigation Agency), has already filed charge sheet in the court of law and he is presently undergoing judicial proceedings as per the law of the land. It is absolutely untrue that he has been subjected to torture. He has been granted consular access several times to the UK High Commission in New Delhi. Further, institutional safeguards like the Human Rights Commission exist to investigate any such allegation, it said. Earlier, the protesters waved placards and made speeches to protest British national Jagtar Singh Johal's detention in India for 1,020 days. His brother, Gurpreet Singh Johal, handed in a letter for UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson seeking his intervention over the alleged third-degree torture and mistreatment and lack of charges against his younger brother in India. Johal, a 33-year-old Scottish-born Sikh, was in Jalandhar with his family for his wedding in October 2017 when he was arrested by police in the city.

British Pakistani and Kashmiri community held a demonstration outside Indian High Commission London on August 15 afternoon to mark India’s Independence Day as ‘Black day’ which was also joined by Indian Sikh community. The participants carried flags of Pakistan, Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) and Khalistan.

The new Indian High Commissioner, Gaitri Issar Kumar, said that New Delhi will take all measures at its disposal to safeguard its sovereignty and territorial integrity. She said in an interview that “the people of Punjab and the Government of India have worked together over the years to successfully root out the Khalistan ‘movement’ — extremist entities associated with Khalistan terrorism — in the early 90s in India. We are aware that many of these terrorist entities connected with the Khalistan movement continue their activities based in the UK and other western countries, where they had fled to. It is well known that they operate in close cooperation with Pakistan-backed perpetrators of terror to create instability in J&K and other parts of India.” “Our government has a number of institutional mechanisms for sharing relevant information on all these organisations with the UK, including regular dialogue and robust cooperation in a variety of areas related to our convergent security and defence interests.” She added that “We appreciate the position taken by the UK government on the Khalistan issue — that they see Punjab as an integral part of India.” “As for ‘Sikhs for Justice’, its supporters must be aware of this organisation’s involvement in serious terror-related and other illegal activities for which many are wanted in India. My government has officially sought the proscription of the terror entity ‘Sikhs for Justice’ in the UK”, she said.

According a report in Newsweek, a weekly American magazine, New Delhi has prevented a United States (US) based Sikh advocacy group, Sikhs For Justice (SFJ) from providing financial support to the Indians who are unable to afford the high cost of oxygen. The SFJ said the Indian government blocked its COVID-19 relief website, oxygenfund.org, which was aimed at connecting the needy Indians with Sikhs in the US, Canada and other countries willing to donate money. Amid the block, according to the report, the group now operates through WhatsApp to reach the Indians in desperate need.

According a report in Newsweek, a weekly American magazine, New Delhi has prevented a United States (US) based Sikh advocacy group, Sikhs For Justice (SFJ) from providing financial support to the Indians who are unable to afford the high cost of oxygen. The SFJ said the Indian government blocked its COVID-19 relief website, oxygenfund.org, which was aimed at connecting the needy Indians with Sikhs in the US, Canada and other countries willing to donate money. Amid the block, according to the report, the group now operates through WhatsApp to reach the Indians in desperate need.

Several Indian-American Sikh, Muslim and Christian groups have applauded the US Commission for International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) for its latest report wherein it has recommended India be designated as a “country of particular concern (CPC)” for the alleged deterioration of religious freedom in the country. The coordinator of American Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (AGPC), Dr Pritpal Singh, said that “India, which claims to be the world’s largest democracy with a tradition of secular pluralism, is fast slipping into a majoritarian autocracy”.

Indian-American Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthy has entered a statement into the Congressional record to recognize April as ‘Sikh appreciation and awareness month’ in his home state of Illinois. He underscored the importance of the recognition, saying there had been a disturbing rise in hate crimes and violent acts perpetrated against the Sikh-American community.

A video gets viral all over the internet where a young aged boy holds an Indian flag amidst the thousands of crowds and supports his country but later, it grows as a serious fight between the boy and the rest of the crowds. After that around hundreds of supporters have inferred in Sydney, Australia, for supporting Vishal Jood, who is an Indian who is arrested by Australian officials over an allegation of infiltrating Khalistani agitators in Sydney. As per the latest reports of our sources, on 16th April, the Indian student Vishal Jood got arrested by the Australian police for including in an offence in Sydney and it has been two months since his arrest, and Australian police have not freed him on pledge neither permitted them to converse to him.

As many as 49 Sikh unions in Australia under the banner of Australia Sikh Association (ASA) has called upon the New South Wales (NSW) government to remove the ban on kirpan. It also called upon the state government to work with the Sikh community to arrive at a workable solution that guarantees the safety of all Australians while maintaining the right to practise religion.

A stabbing incident in an educational institution prompted Australia’s New South Wales (NSW) state to ban Sikh students from wearing kirpan in all schools from May 19, triggering anger among the community. The kirpan is one of Sikhs’ five kakars (articles of Sikh faith).

The explosion in Kabul on May 8, which left over fifty dead, has not only refreshed the memories of March 2020 gurudwara blast in Kabul in the minds of minority Sikh and Hindu communities but has also forced the remaining minority families to mull their future. However, they are reluctant to move to India due to prevalent Covid situation.