September 6 marked as Jaswant Singh Khalra Day in British Columbia

September 6, 2025

Jalandhar, Sep 5: Canada has given great respect to the martyrdom of Jaswant Singh Khalra, a Sikh leader who raised his voice for human rights. The government of British Columbia province has officially declared September 6 as Jaswant Singh Khalra Day.

This announcement was made on the 30th anniversary of his disappearance. On the other hand, in India, the film “Punjab-95” made on him is caught in the clutches of censorship and a demand is being made to make 127 cuts in that film.

British Columbia government announced

The British Columbia government has said in its letter that Jaswant Singh Khalra was an internationally respected human rights defender and it is a matter of pride for the people of British Columbia to keep his memory alive forever. The province’s Lieutenant Governor, Wendy Cocchia, signed this document and declared September 6 as Jaswant Singh Khalra Day.

Directed by Anurag Singh, this film depicts the life and struggle of Jaswant Singh Khalra. But the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) has put a condition of making 127 cuts before passing the film.

People associated with the film and human rights activists are calling it an attack on freedom of expression. They say that Khalra’s life struggle is based on truth, and if censorship is imposed on his story, then it would be an injustice to both justice and history.

Khalra went missing on 6 September 1995

Jaswant Singh Khalra exposed incidents like fake encounters and secret cremations that took place in Punjab in the 1980s and 90s. He revealed that thousands of innocent Sikh youth were killed without due process and their bodies were burned in crematoriums like unidentified bodies. His findings drew international attention to human rights violations in Punjab.

But on 6 September 1995 he was kidnapped in broad daylight and later murdered. From that time onwards he became the voice of resistance and justice for the Sikhs.