The West’s idea of free speech is beyond understanding. On one hand, universities such as Harvard call themselves as the champions of free speech and on the other they cave into extremist elements and take down articles which are critical of terror groups.
Harvard University has recently been in the news after it caved to pressure from pro-Khalistan Sikh readers and took down an article titled “A Thorn in the Maple: How the Khalistan Question is Reshaping India-Canada Relations. The article was published on the website of the Harvard International Review (HIR) on February 15 2025. On February 26th the article was pulled down following scores of complaints by pro-Khalistan elements. Interestingly one of the complaints was by Harvard’s Sikh chaplain, Harpreet Singh.
Funded by OSF
One of the complaints that led to the article being taken down was Harpeet Singh who serves as one of the chaplains at the Harvard University. He is also the co-chair on the executive board of the US-based Sikh Coalition.
It must be noted here that the Sikh Coalition receives funds from the Open Society Foundation (OSF), which is owned by George Soros. The same Soros had declared a war on the nationalists in India and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The Sikh Coalition says that it does not take any institutional position on Khalistan. However it believes that all people have a right to speech and also lawfully advocate their beliefs. It is a well known fact that the Sikh Coalition backs pro-Khalistan elements. This was evident during the farmers’ protests in 2020.
Interestingly the co-founder of the Sikh Coalition Simran Jeet Singh is also a Soros Equality Fellow with the Soros funded OSF.
Simran Jeet had in 2023 written an article in the Time Magazine accusing the Modi government of abusing fundamental human rights and also imposing severe restrictions on citizens. The article came out at a time when the police was trying to nab Khalistani Amritpal Singh in Punjab. The article referred to Amritpal Singh as a Sikh who was fighting the drug menace in Punjab. It is a well known fact that Amritpal Singh is an ISI plant was magically air dropped into Punjab out of nowhere to restore the Khalistan movement. He is no messiah of peace as it is made out to be. The brutal attack on the police station by him and his followers clearly lay out what his real intentions were.
Further proof that the Sikh Coalition backs Khalistan elements can be seen in the case of Sikhs for Justice (SFJ) founder Gurpatwant Singh Pannun who is a proscribed terrorists in India. The Sikh Coalition terms Pannun as a law abiding Sikh citizen of the United States who advocates for protecting rights.
The Harvard hypocrisy
The article which Harvard took down was written by Zyna Dhillon, a staff writer and associate editor at HIR. In her article she argued that the Khalistan movement lacked broader support.
“Much of the support for the Khalistan movement today comes from a growing segment of Canada’s Sikh diaspora. Note, however, that this support comes from only a minority of Canadian Sikhs, and while “there are many supporters of Khalistan in Canada, they do not represent the [Canadian] Sikh community as a whole,” she said in the article.
The article which also speaks about the Kanishka Bombing in 1985 provides a timeline of the rise of the Khalistan movement and how Canada became a safe haven for these anti-India elements due to the Liberal Party’s vote bank politics.
The editors of HIR asked Dhillon to make two edits. She was asked to remove Indian government statistics on the death caused by Sikh militants and also add a sentence confirming whether Khalistan supporters had harassed Indian diplomats in Canada. Dhillon however refused to make the changes. Following this Soros backed Harpreet Singh filed a four page complaint with the HIR alleging that the article presented uncorroborated data from the Indian government.
It has often been said that Harvard has on many occasions presented an anti-India stance. Many of its ideas have entered the Indian government organisations and businesses. Further they bring in Indian scholars and students into conferences and seminars. They give them grants to align with their theories. The students are then sent back to India and used to create a new eco-system.
Back in 2019 December, over 220 Harvard affiliates signed a letter to the Indian government supporting protests against India’s Citizenship Amendment Act. The letter condemned the suppression of protests by students at the Indian unversities.
The letter was authored by Hemanth Bharatha Chakravarthy and Shreyvardhan Sharma. The letter was sponsored by groups including Harvard US-India Initiative, the Harvard Islamic Society and Harvard College Pakistan Students Association.
The letter criticised the the CAA as an anti-Muslim measure.
The fact is that the CAA was introduced to provide asylum to minorities (Hindus, Christians, Sikhs and Buddhists) in Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan. The idea was to give these persecuted minorities protection and assure them that they have a country in India for themselves. However, many twisted it as anti-Muslim and asked why they were excluded from the list. The answer is simple and that is the Muslims have Islamic nations to go to if they are persecuted. Moreover, there was no need for the inclusion of Muslims as they are not persecuted in Bangladesh, Pakistan, Afghanistan and even in India.
Back in 2023, during a Congressional hearing, the then president of Harvard Claudine Gay could not answer when asked if calling for genocide of Jews violated university policy. Harvard was also in the news when a massive outrage had erupted over its handling of antisemitism on campus. This had led to several billionaires halting donations.
The pulling down of the article criticising the Khalistan movement and how it damaged India-Canada ties is hardly surprising. Harvard has known to have an anti-India view. Harvard will not take into account the number of people who have lost their lives due to the Khalistan movement. It has claimed the life of a sitting Prime Minister and Chief Minister in India. Over 15,000 people in Punjab have lost their lives due to this madness.
Further it is also a well-known fact that the Khalistan movement is backed by the ISI. When the crackdown on the Khalistan movement began, most of its top leaders were given shelter by Pakistan. They continue to live there are plan and plot terror attacks in Punjab and other parts of the country.
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