ACanadian court has struck down an appeal by two Khalistani supporters seeking to get off the country's no-fly list, saying there are "reasonable grounds" to suspect they will threaten transportation security or travel by air to commit a terrorism offence.
The court's ruling, which was delivered on 19 June by a three-judge bench, came against the backdrop of severe strain in India-Canada ties following Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's allegations in September last year of a "potential" involvement of Indian agents in Hardeep Singh Nijjar's killing.
New Delhi rejected Trudeau's charges as "absurd" and "motivated".
According to Canadian Press news agency on Thursday, the Federal Court of Appeal in its ruling this week dismissed an appeal by Bhagat Singh Brar and Parvkar Singh Dulai after they lost a constitutional challenge of their no-fly designations under Canada's Secure Air Travel Act (SATA).
The two were not allowed to board planes in Vancouver in 2018. While Brar was prevented from boarding a flight at Vancouver International Airport on April 24, Dulai was denied boarding at the same airport on 17 May.
Brar is believed to be the son of Lakhbir Singh Rode, considered the head of the International Sikh Youth Federation, which is a proscribed terrorist entity in Canada. Rode, the nephew of extremist leader Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, died in Pakistan in December last year. Bhindranwale was killed in June 1984 when Indian forces stormed the Golden Temple in Amritsar during Operation Bluestar.
According to a Hindustan Times report, citing Global News, Brar, who is based in Brampton, featured in documents of Canadian security agencies in 2020 for "working with Pakistan’s ISI intelligence service to plan an attack in India that was disrupted in 2017".
The same documents alleged Dulai, based in Surrey, British Columbia, was "suspected to be a facilitator of terrorist-related activities, and has shown an ongoing pattern of involvement within the Khalistani extremist milieu", added the report.
With inputs from agencies