Another attack on the Indian consulate in the US,

For the second time in four months, the Indian consulate in San Francisco was set on fire by Khalistani supporters on July 2. The fire was quickly suppressed by the San Francisco Fire Department. No major damage or injury to the staff were reported.

The US State Department "strongly condemned" the vandalism and labelled it a criminal offence. An official statement was released by the US Department of State spokesperson, Matthew Miller.

A video, released by the Khalistani supporters in connection with this act of violence, was verified and shared by a local news outlet, Diya TV. "Violence begets violence" were the words written over the video, which showed various news articles reporting the death of Khalistan Tiger Force (KTF) chief, Hardeep Singh Nijjar, who was shot dead in Canada last month, thus pointing out the reason for the attempted arson. The Canada-based Khalistani leader was a wanted terrorist in India and had a prize money of ₹10 lac on his head.

This is not the first time that such an incident, caused by Khalistani supporters has taken place. In March this year, a group of supporters installed two Khalistani flags inside the Consulate premises. The reason then, was the search operation launched by the Punjab Police against the now-arrested Khalistani leader Amritpal Singh.

Report by Saumya

Graphics by Khushpreet