WASHINGTON: More than 23,000 votes were reportedly cast in Edmonton, Canada, on Sunday in a referendum-style exercise organized by Sikhs for Justice (SFJ), which seeks an independent Sikh homeland in India`s Punjab. Voting was extended beyond the scheduled closing time to accommodate people waiting in line, organizers said.

Held on Oct 18 at the Alberta Legislature Grounds, the non-binding exercise was part of SFJ`s international campaign for Khalistan, an independent Sikh state. It had no official standing.

The more consequential development was SFJ general counsel Gurpatwant Singh Pannun`s announcement of a three-pronged strategy to challenge Prime Minister Narendra Modi`s government: continue overseas referendums, support political and youth movements opposing the government inside India, and press foreign investors to withdraw from Indian markets.

Describing the initiative as `Fifth-Generation Warfare,` Pannun declared that `toppling Modi`s regime` was his immediate political objective.

`Toppling Modi`s regime is a step forward` in SFJ`s struggle, he said, adding, `Our struggle continues.

Pannun, a US-based lawyer and prominent advocate of Sikh separatism, is a dual US-Canadian citizen.

India designated him an individual terrorist in 2020 and has banned SFJ under its anti-terrorism law. He has also been the target of an alleged assassination plot in the United States.

In February 2026, Indian national Nikhil Gupta pleaded guilty in a US court to charges connected with a plot to murder a US citizen at the direction of an Indian government employee, according to the US Justice Department.