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Diaspora

Sikhs abroad, from the first settlers in Canada to the killings and plots of today.

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1. Jan 1908First gurdwara in North America opens, VancouverPacific Sikh diaspora takes root
2. 1911Gur Sikh Temple AbbotsfordOldest standing North American Gurdwara
3. 1912Gurdwara Sahib StocktonOldest U.S. Gurdwara
4. 1913Ghadar Party foundedBuilt in steps by Punjabi workers of the Pacific coast: Portland 1912, the Astoria meeting of 30 May 1913, the first Ghadar issue on 1 Nov, the Sacramento conference of 31 Dec 1913.
5. May 23, 1914Komagata Maru incidentFoundational migration trauma
6. Jun 23, 1985Air India Flight 182 bombingA bomb destroyed Air India Flight 182 off Ireland a year after Operation Blue Star; all 329 aboard died. Canada's inquiry blamed Talwinder Singh Parmar and the Babbar Khalsa.
7. 1998 onwardSurrey Vaisakhi Parade begins and grows into a Khalsa Day crowd of hundreds of thousandsSince 1998 Gurdwara Sahib Dasmesh Darbar has led an annual Khalsa Day parade through Newton, Surrey, which grew from about 16,000 people to crowds reported at 450,000 to 550,000.
8. Aug 5, 2012Oak Creek gurdwara shooting, WisconsinA gunman with neo-Nazi ties killed six worshippers at the Sikh Temple of Wisconsin in Oak Creek on 5 Aug 2012. The attack prompted the US to start counting hate crimes against Sikhs.
9. 2012 onwardCampaign to have the 1984 killings recognised as genocideFrom a 2012 White House petition to Ontario's 2017 motion and Delhi's 2018 resolution: how the call to name the November 1984 killings genocide moved through governments.
10. Nov 1, 2013Sikhs file 1984 genocide petition at the UN in GenevaOn 1 Nov 2013 Sikh groups filed a petition of about one million signatures at the UN in Geneva, asking for an investigation of the November 1984 killings and recognition as genocide.
11. Apr 6, 2017Ontario legislature passes Motion 46 on the 1984 Sikh genocideOntario's Assembly voted 34 to 5 for a motion calling the 1984 killings of Sikhs a genocide, a year after a similar motion failed; India's foreign ministry rejected it as misguided.
12. Nov 2017Jagtar Singh Johal arrested in JalandharDefining diaspora detention; alleged torture
13. Aug 2021 onwardAfghan Sikhs flee after the Taliban takeoverAfter the Taliban took Kabul on Aug 15, 2021, India flew out Afghan Sikhs and Hindus with saroops of Sri Guru Granth Sahib. In January 2022 community leaders counted about 140 Sikhs left.
14. Oct 31, 2021First Khalistan Referendum vote held in LondonSikhs for Justice opens its unofficial, non-binding Khalistan Referendum at the Queen Elizabeth II Centre in London and claims 30,000 voters. No independent count was published.
15. Sep 18, 2022Khalistan Referendum vote held in Brampton, CanadaFirst Canadian round of the Sikhs for Justice referendum: organisers claimed over 110,000 voters at Gore Meadows in Brampton, The Tribune doubted it, and India protested to Ottawa.
16. Jan 29, 2023Khalistan Referendum vote held in Melbourne, with clashesThe Australian round of the Sikhs for Justice referendum at Federation Square drew a large crowd and two scuffles with pro-India demonstrators; police arrested two men and India protested.
17. Jun 18, 2023Hardeep Singh Nijjar killed in SurreyCanada later links Indian agents
18. Sep 10 and Oct 29, 2023Khalistan Referendum votes held at Nijjar's Surrey gurdwaraMonths after Hardeep Singh Nijjar was shot there, two Khalistan Referendum rounds were held at Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara in Surrey. Organisers claimed over 200,000 votes across both.
19. Sep 2023 to Jun 2025Canada and India fall out over the Nijjar killingTrudeau's September 2023 charge of a possible Indian link to the Nijjar killing led to expulsions, a trade pause and a diplomatic freeze, which began to thaw in June 2025.
20. Nov 2023US indictment in Pannun plot unsealedPlot foiled; follows the Nijjar killing
21. Jan 2024 to Nov 2025Khalistan Referendum rounds in 2024 and 2025From San Francisco to Calgary, Auckland and Ottawa, Sikhs for Justice kept holding unofficial votes. Hosts declined to ban them, India protested, and all turnout figures came from organisers.
22. May 3, 2024Four men charged with murder in Hardeep Singh Nijjar's killingIn May 2024 police charged four Indian nationals with first-degree murder over Nijjar's killing. The case is still pretrial, and who ordered the killing is still disputed.
23. Feb 5-16, 2025US military deportation flights land at AmritsarThree US military planes brought more than 330 deported Indians to Amritsar in February 2025. Many were Punjabis, and Sikh deportees on the second flight said their turbans were taken.
24. Mar 4, 2025Jagtar Singh Johal acquitted in his first caseA Moga court cleared British Sikh Jagtar Singh Johal in the first of the cases against him to reach a verdict. He stayed in jail on further cases until bail and release in September and October 2026.
25. Sep 29, 2025Canada lists the Bishnoi gang under its anti-terror lawCanada listed the Lawrence Bishnoi gang as a "terrorist entity" on 29 September 2025, citing murder, shootings and extortion. The RCMP had earlier tied the gang to agents of the Indian government.
26. Oct 13, 2025Newsom vetoes California's transnational repression training billGovernor Newsom vetoed SB 509, a bill to train California police on transnational repression, after it passed both houses with no No vote. Sikh groups backed it; Hindu American groups opposed it.
27. Feb 13, 2026Nikhil Gupta pleads guilty in the plot to kill Gurpatwant Singh PannunGupta pleaded guilty in New York to murder-for-hire and money laundering conspiracy. US officials say an Indian government employee directed him; sentencing is set for November 20, 2026.
28. Feb 27-Mar 2, 2026Canada and India reset ties as Carney visits Delhi, with Nijjar unmentionedEight months after agreeing to restore envoys, Carney and Modi launched trade talks in Delhi. Sikh groups in Canada said accountability for Nijjar's killing and threats to Sikhs had been left aside.
29. Mar 22, 2026Seattle holds a Khalistan Referendum voteSikhs for Justice ran a one-day, non-binding vote at Seattle's City Hall Park and reported about 27,000 votes. Gurpatwant Singh Pannun's remark on armed struggle drew attention.
30. Apr 9, 2026Record anti-Sikh hate crime figures reported for the United States in 2025A preliminary count in April 2026 put anti-Sikh hate crimes at 228 for 2025. The FBI's August data was lower but still above 2024. A House bill would create a DOJ task force on anti-Sikh hate.
31. Apr 22, 2026UN experts say Jagtar Singh Johal's detention is psychological tortureTen UN experts urge India to free the British Sikh held since 2017: one acquittal, and NIA cases resting on one alleged confession (eight by Reprieve's count, seven by The Tribune's).

Also in this topic

• Abbotsford, British ColumbiaFraser Valley city and home of the Gur Sikh Temple, built 1910 to 1912, the oldest surviving gurdwara in North America and a National Historic Site since 2002; Sikhs are about a quarter of its people.
• Academy of the Punjab in North America (APNA)Diaspora body for Punjabi language and culture, run in both Gurmukhi and Shahmukhi. Runs a large online library and the quarterly magazine Sanjh; says it is non-religious and non-political.
• AfghanistanCountry where a once large Sikh community has shrunk to a few hundred people or fewer after war, the Taliban and Islamic State attacks on Kabul's gurdwaras in 2020 and 2022; counts vary widely.
• AAmit ShahUnion Home Minister of India (since 2019); former president of the BJP
• HBaba Harnam Singh KhalraGhadar activist; grandfather of Jaswant Singh Khalra
• JBaba Jawala SinghPotato farmer of Stockton; co-founder of the Stockton gurdwara; first Vice-President of the Ghadar Party
• WBaba Wasakha SinghGhadar Party leader; builder of the Stockton gurdwara; Jathedar of Sri Akal Takht Sahib (1934)
• Baltej Singh DhillonSenator for British Columbia (since 2025); retired RCMP officer, the first to wear a turban on duty
• Basics of SikhiUK-based Sikh education and outreach project, started in 2012 by Jagraj Singh, known for YouTube videos explaining Sikhi in plain language. It runs on donations and charges nothing for parchar.
• JBhai Jagraj SinghFounder of Everythings 13 and Basics of Sikhi; English-language Sikh preacher; former British Army officer
• Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)India's ruling party since 2014. In Punjab it was the Akali Dal's junior partner from 1997 to 2020, and has since been trying to build its own base among Sikhs, with mixed results.
• Bradford, West YorkshireWest Yorkshire city where Sikhs founded a gurdwara in 1964 and opened the Guru Gobind Singh Gurdwara on Malvern Street, now Gobind Marg, in 1972.
• BramptonCity west of Toronto where Sikhs were 25.1 percent of residents in 2021; site of the 2017 Ontario motion on 1984 and the first Canadian Khalistan referendum vote in 2022.
• British Sikh CouncilA small UK charity, founded in 2002, that says it has built gurdwaras, schools and houses for Sikligar, Vanjara and Satnami Sikhs in Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh.
• CanadaHome of the world's second largest Sikh community, 771,790 in the 2021 census; from the Komagata Maru and the 1947 vote to Air India 182, Ontario's 1984 motion and the Nijjar killing.
• Canadian Race Relations Foundation (CRRF)Federal anti-racism foundation created from the Japanese Canadian redress agreement. It funded the World Sikh Organization of Canada's April 2026 report on anti-Sikh hate.
• Central Gurdwara (Khalsa Jatha) LondonLondon's Khalsa Jatha, formed in 1908, opened a gurdwara in 1911 with the Maharaja of Patiala and has been at Queensdale Road since 1969. It calls itself the UK's oldest Sikh place of worship.
• Cincinnati, OhioOhio city whose Sikhs worship at the Guru Nanak Society's gurdwara in West Chester Township. It armed its security after the 2012 Oak Creek attack and organises the city's Vaisakhi parade.
• Coalition of Hindus of North America (CoHNA)A Hindu advocacy group in the US and Canada. It opposed California's SB 509 on transnational repression, which the Sikh Coalition backed, and welcomed the October 2025 veto.
• DDanish SinghPresident, World Sikh Organization of Canada
• Dasvandh Network (DVN)A US non-profit giving platform for Sikh causes that charges no fee for using it. In 2024 it raised $2.44 million on the platform, plus $570,000 in board grants.
• Did agents of the Indian state kill Hardeep Singh Nijjar?Canada alleged a link to Indian agents in 2023, India denies it, and a July 2026 US indictment names gangsters. No court has decided. The record in order, and the Panthic answer.
• DDr Jagjit Singh ChohanFormer Punjab Deputy Speaker and Finance Minister; Khalistan ideologue in exile in Britain; founder of the Khalsa Raj Party
• DDr Karminder Singh DhillonMalaysian Sikh writer and speaker; joint editor of The Sikh Bulletin; director of the Sikhi Vichar Forum
• DDr Ranbir Singh SandhuAuthor and translator of Bhindranwale's speeches; Sikh diaspora activist in Ohio
• DDr. Jaspreet Kaur BalChair, Child and Family Studies, Centennial College; Ontario officer of the World Sikh Organization
• DDr. Rajwant SinghFounder and Global President of EcoSikh; chairman of the Sikh Council on Religion and Education
• Everything's 13A UK Sikh charity founded by Bhai Jagraj Singh; it is the parent of Basics of Sikhi, Mighty Khalsa, Kiddie Sangat and the Sikh Press Association.
• FranceHome of the officers who trained Ranjit Singh’s army from 1822, landing place of the Sikh soldiers of 1914, and the country whose 2004 school law hit the turban; also a Dal Khalsa argument about arms.
• GenevaSwiss city of the UN human rights bodies, where Sikh groups filed the 1984 genocide petition on 1 November 2013 and presented a report on transnational repression in March 2026.
• Ghadar PartyRevolutionary party of Punjabi migrants on the US Pacific coast, formed in 1913 to end British rule by armed rebellion. Its 1914 to 1915 rising was crushed and Kartar Singh Sarabha was hanged.
• GujaratState on India's western coast where Guru Nanak is remembered at Lakhpat and where Punjabi Sikh farmers settled in Kutch after 1965, later fighting a land freeze in the courts.
• Gur Sikh Temple (Abbotsford)The gurdwara built by Sikh pioneers at Abbotsford, British Columbia, completed in 1911 and opened in 1912; a National Historic Site of Canada since 2002.
• GGurbaj Singh MultaniStudent at the centre of Multani v. Commission scolaire Marguerite-Bourgeoys (2006), the Supreme Court of Canada kirpan ruling
• Gurdwara Sahib Dasmesh Darbar (Surrey)A gurdwara in Newton, Surrey, British Columbia, that started the Surrey Vaisakhi Parade in 1998 and still sets it off from its doors. The 2025 crowd was put at over 550,000.
• Gurdwara Sahib Leamington and WarwickCommunity-built gurdwara on Tachbrook Park Drive, opened 25 October 2009 at a reported cost of 11 million pounds. Serves Leamington Spa, Warwick and Kenilworth; among the largest in the UK.
• Gurdwara Sahib StocktonThe first Sikh house of worship in the United States, founded at Stockton, California, in 1912 by Jawala Singh and Wasakha Singh, and a centre of Ghadar Party activity.
• Gurdwara Sahib Yuba City (Sikh Temple Gurdwara)California gurdwara at 2468 Tierra Buena Road, begun in 1969 on donated almond-orchard land. Its early-November Nagar Kirtan drew 160,000 to 250,000 people in 2022, by the temple's own estimate.
• Gurdwara Sri Guru Singh Sabha, SouthallWest London gurdwara formed as Sri Guru Singh Sabha Southall in 1964. Its Havelock Road building opened on 30 March 2003; the Sabha calls itself the leading Sikh institution outside India.
• Gurmat Academy (Ontario Khalsa Darbar)Weekly Sikh heritage classes at Ontario Khalsa Darbar in Mississauga: Gurmukhi, Gurbani, Sikh history, Gurmat Sangeet, turban tying and gatka, for $50 a month.
• GGurpatwant Singh PannunLawyer and general counsel of Sikhs for Justice; organiser of the Khalistan Referendum
• Guru Gobind Singh Gurdwara BradfordGurdwara on Gobind Marg, off Leeds Road, Bradford. Opened in 1972, after an earlier gurdwara that sources date to 1964 or 1965; it runs a Panjabi school, classes and a day centre.
• Guru Nanak Darbar Gurdwara, GravesendGravesend's community-funded gurdwara, opened in November 2010 at a cost of 15 million pounds. Its own site calls it one of the largest outside India, with three prayer halls and two langar halls.
• Guru Nanak Gurdwara SmethwickGurdwara at 130 High Street, Smethwick, in a former Congregational chapel bought for 11,600 pounds, in 1958 or 1961 depending on the source. A 5 million pound annexe opened in October 2012.
• Guru Nanak Khalsa School (GNKS)The Sunday Khalsa school of Sikh Gurdwara San Jose, California, teaching Punjabi, Gurbani, Gurmat and keertan to children in graded levels.
• Guru Nanak Nishkam Sewak Jatha (Birmingham)Sikh charity built around Sant Baba Puran Singh of Kericho, with its international headquarters at the Soho Road gurdwara in Handsworth, Birmingham. Its schools trust runs six academies.
• Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara (Surrey)A gurdwara on 120th Street, Surrey, that says it has served its sangat since 1973. Its president, Hardeep Singh Nijjar, was shot dead in its parking lot on 18 June 2023.
• HHardeep Singh NijjarPresident of the Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara, Surrey; Canadian organiser for the Sikhs for Justice referendum campaign
• Hindu American Foundation (HAF)A US Hindu advocacy group, founded in 2003, whose positions on California's SB 509 and on India have put it at odds with Sikh American organisations.
• International Sikh Youth Federation (ISYF)A Sikh youth body formed at Walsall, England, on 23 September 1984 after Operation Blue Star; banned in India and Canada, and in the UK from 2001 until 2016.
• Is the 'Khalistani' label used to silence Sikh political speech in the diaspora?Delhi says the word names a real security threat. Canada's inquiry says India treats lawful advocacy and violence alike. The 2017 and 2019 episodes, India's own court, and the Panthic answer.
• Is the Khalistan Referendum a legitimate exercise?Non-binding by its own terms; only the organisers’ turnout counts; none held in India by 2023. Delhi calls it farcical; host states allow it but do not recognise it; Sikh bodies differ on method.
• Jagmeet SinghFormer leader of the New Democratic Party of Canada (2017 to 2025); former Ontario MPP and Member of Parliament
• JJagtar Singh JohalBritish Sikh blogger detained in India (2017 to 2026); released on bail, still an accused
• Jakara MovementCalifornia Sikh youth and community organisation that grew from a 2000 conference in Fresno. It runs youth programmes and civic campaigns, and names the abolition of caste among its aims.
• JJasbir Singh RodeFormer Jathedar of Sri Akal Takht Sahib (1988); nephew of Sant Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale
• Junior Sikh CoalitionThe Sikh Coalition's student-led programme for Sikh teenagers in the New York area: leadership training, anti-bullying work and langar. Listed as suspended for 2022.
• JJustin TrudeauPrime Minister of Canada, 2015 to March 2025
• Kabul, AfghanistanAfghan capital where Guru Nanak is said to have travelled around 1520; its Sikh community has shrunk from tens of thousands to about a hundred, and Gurdwara Karte Parwan is its last working gurdwara.
• Karan AujlaPunjabi singer, rapper and songwriter based in Canada
• KhalistanThe name of a proposed sovereign Sikh state. Put forward in a 1940 pamphlet, declared in 1980 and on 29 April 1986, and backed today by some Sikh groups. The Indian government rejects it.
• Khalistan ReferendumThe unofficial, non-binding vote that Sikhs for Justice has run in diaspora cities since 2021 on whether Punjab should be an independent Sikh state. India calls it a farce; host governments allow it.
• Khalistan Tiger ForceA group India calls a “terrorist organisation”, linked to Jagtar Singh Tara. India also accused Hardeep Singh Nijjar of leading it, which he denied before he was killed in 2023.
• Khalsa AidUK-based humanitarian charity founded in 1999 by Ravi Singh on the Sikh principle of well-being for all. Known for flood, refugee and farmers' protest relief, and a 2025 dispute with its India office.
• Khalsa Diwan Society (Vancouver)The Sikh society behind Canada's first gurdwara on 2nd Avenue and the Ross Street Gurdwara. It stood with the Komagata Maru passengers in 1914.
• Khalsa Diwan Society, Victoria (Topaz Avenue Gurdwara)The Victoria Khalsa Diwan Society built the Topaz Avenue Gurdwara in Victoria, British Columbia, in 1912, the third gurdwara in the province. Rebuilt in 1969; a provincial heritage site since 2020.
• Khalsa Primary School (Southall)State-funded Sikh primary school in Southall, west London, for ages 3 to 11. The Southall gurdwara set it up, and it opened in 2009.
• LLakhbir Singh RodeKharku leader; described by Indian media as head of the Khalistan Liberation Force and the International Sikh Youth Federation
• Lawrence Bishnoi GangCrime network that began in Punjab student politics, led by the jailed Lawrence Bishnoi. Canada listed it a “terrorist entity” in 2025; a US indictment in 2026 names him over Nijjar’s killing.
• Leadership Development Program (SikhLEAD LDP)SALDEF's youth leadership programme for Sikh Americans, begun in 2010. It sits within SikhLEAD, whose internships run in Washington DC, in the states and, newly, in Los Angeles media.
• MMallika KaurLawyer, author and lecturer at UC Berkeley Law; co-founder of the Sikh Family Center
• Maritime Sikh Society (Halifax)Society that runs the gurdwara at 10 Parkhill Road, Halifax. Grew from a first gathering in April 1967 and a constitution in 1969; gurdwara opened 19 November 1978; had an all-women executive in 1992.
• Mark CarneyPrime Minister of Canada since March 2025
• Melbourne, AustraliaCapital of Victoria, the Australian state with the most Sikhs. Home of the Victorian Sikh Association and the Vaisakhi Nagar Kirtan, and a stage for 1984 remembrance marches and a 2023 vote.
• Midland Langar Seva Society (MLSS)UK Sikh charity founded in Walsall in October 2013 that serves free vegetarian langar to homeless and low-income people in Birmingham, Leicester and other cities.
• MississaugaOntario city with the Ontario Khalsa Darbar (Dixie Gurdwara), the Sikh Heritage Museum of Canada, and the Paul Coffey Arena, site of the 6 November 2022 Khalistan Referendum vote.
• NNancy GrewalCanadian Sikh social media influencer and personal support worker
• NNarendra ModiPrime Minister of India since 26 May 2014; Chief Minister of Gujarat 2001 to 2014; leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party
• Navtej BharatiPunjabi poet and essayist; co-author of Leela
• New Democratic Party of Canada (NDP)Canada's social-democratic federal party, led by Jagmeet Singh from 2017 to 2025. Singh moved a 1984 genocide motion in Ontario in 2016 and the NDP pledged in 2024 to seek recognition in Parliament.
• NNikhil GuptaDefendant who pleaded guilty in the Pannun murder-for-hire case in a US federal court
• Norwich, ConnecticutA small Connecticut city: a Sikh resident helped win a state day for the Tesra Ghallughara in 2018, a 1984 memorial at its library went up and came down in 2019, and a Sikh mayor won in 2025.
• Oak Creek, WisconsinMilwaukee suburb where a white supremacist killed six worshippers at the Sikh Temple of Wisconsin on 5 August 2012, the attack that led the US to start counting hate crimes against Sikhs.
• Ontario Khalsa Darbar (OKD)Gurdwara at 7080 Dixie Road, Mississauga, known as the Dixie Gurdwara. Established in 1978 in a farmhouse, its building was inaugurated on 25 June 1989, and the site has grown to about 38 acres.
• PakistanThe country that holds the birthplaces of the Panth: Nankana Sahib, Kartarpur and Dera Sahib. About 16,000 Sikhs live there, and the shrines are run by a state board, the ETPB.
• PPrincess Sophia Duleep SinghDaughter of Maharaja Duleep Singh; suffragette and tax resister; nurse to Indian soldiers
• RAW (Research and Analysis Wing)India's external intelligence agency, set up in 1968. Named in the Third Agency claims about 1984 and, by US prosecutors, in the 2023 plot to kill Gurpatwant Singh Pannun in New York.
• Richardson, TexasDallas suburb with Gurdwara Singh Sabha Richardson, which SikhNet listed as the venue of the 2024 international finals of the Sikh Youth Symposium run by the Sikh Youth Alliance of North America.
• Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP)Canada's federal police. It let Sikh officers wear turbans from 1990, was faulted by the Air India inquiry, and in 2024 linked agents of the Government of India to violence against Sikhs.
• SAF InternationalSikh charity from Surrey, BC, registered as the Sikhi Awareness Foundation. It runs schooling, water and housing projects with Sikligar families in Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and near Hyderabad.
• SALDEF (Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund)Washington-based Sikh American civil rights group, begun in 1996 as an all-volunteer media-watch body. It gives legal help, runs the SikhLEAD youth programme and speaks on hate crimes.
• San Jose, CaliforniaSilicon Valley city with over 20,000 Sikhs in its county and the 40-acre Sikh Gurdwara San Jose, rated the largest Sikh place of worship in North America.
• TSant Teja SinghSikh educationist and preacher; disciple of Sant Atar Singh of Mastuana; founding principal of Akal Degree College, Mastuana
• Sikh CoalitionThe US Sikh civil rights organisation that began on the night of 11 September 2001. It fights hate crimes, school bullying and turban and beard bans, in court and in Congress.
• Sikh Educational and Religious FoundationOhio-based Sikh publisher and tax-exempt foundation behind Ranbir Singh Sandhu's 1997 essay on Bhindranwale and his 1999 translation of Bhindranwale's speeches, Struggle for Justice.
• Sikh Family CenterA US nonprofit, launched in 2009, that supports Punjabi Sikh survivors of gender-based violence through a Punjabi-English helpline, prevention education and training.
• Sikh Gurdwara San JoseA gurdwara founded in 1984 by the South Bay Sikh community in California. Its 40-acre Evergreen campus, completed in 2011, is described as the largest gurdwara in North America.
• Sikh Relief (formerly SOPW)UK charity that began as the Sikh Organisation for Prisoner Welfare and helps Sikh prisoners and their families in India. Indian media have alleged links to violence, which it denies.
• Sikh Temple of WisconsinThe gurdwara in Oak Creek where a white supremacist killed six worshippers on 5 August 2012 and a seventh victim died in 2020. The sangat has kept it open since.
• Sikh Youth Alliance of North America (SYANA)Volunteer Sikh youth body in the US and Canada that traces itself to 1968. It runs Gurmat camps, a retreat and the International Sikh Youth Symposium, a speaking and debate contest for ages 6 to 22.
• Sikhs for Justice (SFJ)A New York group founded in 2007 that took 1984 cases to US courts and now runs the Khalistan Referendum. India banned it in 2019; a US court has heard a plot to kill its general counsel.
• Southall, LondonWest London's Little Punjab: Sikh worship since 1964, the murder of Gurdip Singh Chaggar in 1976, the Khalistan Council of 1984 and the gurdwara opened in 2003.
• Stockton, CaliforniaCentral Valley city where Punjabi Sikh farmers founded the first gurdwara in the United States in 1912 and helped pay for the Ghadar Party and its press.
• Surrey, British ColumbiaA city near Vancouver with about 154,000 Sikhs. Hardeep Singh Nijjar, president of its Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara, was shot dead in the car park on 18 June 2023.
• SwitzerlandSmall state with about 1,000 Sikhs, first met in 1944; Geneva hosted the 2013 UN petition on 1984. Paramjit Singh Mand of Dal Khalsa cited it in April 2026 against a Khalistan funding objection.
• TTalwinder Singh ParmarFounder of the Babbar Khalsa abroad; named by Canadian police as the suspected mastermind of the Air India Flight 182 bombing
• TarakiUK not-for-profit company founded in October 2017 by Shuranjeet Singh to change how Punjabi communities deal with mental health, through research, media, training and men's peer support.
• The Nanakshahi calendar: why did the SGPC drop it?Pal Singh Purewal's fixed-date calendar was adopted in 2003 and amended in 2010. The SGPC says its calendar is still Nanakshahi; the PSGPC and some diaspora gurdwaras keep the original.
• Tom Lantos Human Rights CommissionBipartisan human rights body of the US House, set up in 2008. It held a briefing on the November 1984 Delhi massacres on 30 September 2014 and a hearing on transnational repression on 24 June 2025.
• UNITED SIKHSInternational Sikh humanitarian and civil rights NGO founded in 1999 in the New York area. Known for its Afghan Sikh relief, the 2020 US Census campaign and a 2025 report on anti-Sikh hate crimes.
• United KingdomPower that annexed the Sikh kingdom in 1849; over half a million Sikhs live in England and Wales, and it is the stage for Panthic campaigns since 1984, from Hague's 2014 statement to Johal.
• United States of AmericaHome to one of the largest Sikh communities outside South Asia, known only by estimate; from the 1907 Bellingham attack and the 1912 Stockton gurdwara to Oak Creek in 2012.
• VVikash YadavFormer Indian intelligence officer charged in the US over the Pannun plot (allegations only; untried)
• Warren EntschAustralian MP for Leichhardt (Liberal National Party of Queensland), 1996 to 2007 and 2010 to 2025
• Who bombed Air India Flight 182, and was the case ever solved?Courts and Canada’s inquiries point to a Babbar Khalsa plot led by Talwinder Singh Parmar. Only Inderjit Singh Reyat was convicted of the bombing; Malik and Bagri were acquitted in 2005.
• World Sikh Organization of Canada (WSO)The Ottawa-based Sikh advocacy body, the Canadian branch of the World Sikh Organization formed after Operation Blue Star in 1984. It argues Sikh religious rights in court and documents anti-Sikh hate.
• Yuba City, CaliforniaCalifornia farm city called Little Punjab: Sikh orchardists since the early 1900s, the Tierra Buena gurdwara of 1969 and the Nagar Kirtan begun in 1980.