CANADIAN Investigative Journalist Mocha Bezirgan, who was physically assaulted by multiple Khalistanis in Canada on Sunday, said that an assailant was also a stalker, who had been tailing him for over a year. Bezirgan said that the Khalistani stalker doxed his movements and assaulted him in front of the police. “Well, I’m still in Vancouver and it just happened two hours ago, not too long ago, and I’m still shaking because I was surrounded by multiple Khalistanis who acted like thugs. They surrounded me, threatened violence and they got physical with me. They grabbed my phone out of my hand in front of police, by the way,” he said. Bezirgan said that the stalker harassed him for a long time using dehumanising language against him.

 

“This has been very stressfulformebecausethiswas done by an individual who has been harassing me for a very long time online using dehumanisinglanguageagainstme, doxing my whereabouts,” he said. BezirgantoldANIthathehad been covering Khalistani protests and being an independent journalist, his works irk them. He added that they try to bribe him, and if that doesn’twork,theythreatenviolence. “I’ve been covering the Khalistani protests in Canada, US, UK, New Zealand. Since last year, I’ve been to about 30 oftheirevents.Andmyonlygoal is to do independent journalism and record and report what’s going on. And because I’m editorially independent, this frustrates some people. They want to influence me. They want to buy me. If they can’tbuyit,theywanttothreatenviolence towardsme.That’s what this individual did,” he said. Canadian investigative journalistMochaBezirganwho documentsKhalistanidemonstrations across Canada, US, Britain and New Zealand on Sunday said that those linked totheseparatistmovementare ‘puttingalotofpressure’onthe new Prime Minister Mark Carney to resincd his invitationtoPrimeMinisterNarendra Modi for the upcoming G7 Summit.

 

Despite ongoing tension between the two countries on the issue of extremism, Bezirgan said he expects warmer ties henceforth as Carney has invited Prime Minister Modi for the G7 Summit. Bezirgan said that this is an interesting time because the dates of G7 almost coincide with Khalistani separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar’s killing, the Golden Temple incident, and Air India bombings. Bezirganfurthersaidthatthe pro-Khalistan movement has ledtoactsof vandalism,intimidation, and violent rhetoric, despite not being widespread within the Sikh community. Bezirgan also expressed concern over the reluctance of Canadian politicians to condemn these extremist groups.