Toronto, Oct 24 — Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) appears in multiple independent assessments as an external sponsor of the Khalistan campaign operating from North America, helping establish and sustain drug-cartel networks involving Punjabi-Canadian operators because traditional diaspora donations have proved insufficient to maintain desired levels of activity, a report has highlighted.
Writing in 'Khalsa Vox', Harleen Kaur mentions that the extremist movement is not a spontaneous expression of diaspora grievance but a sustained political and organisational enterprise. The Canadian law enforcement and intelligence agencies, the report suggested, should treat the financing of the Khalistan campaign as a priority for rigorous, evidence-based scrutiny considering that the funding sources have become a matter of national security.
"Sikhs for Justice (SFJ) has run a multi-year series of non-binding 'referendums' across Canadian and American cities. It maintains legal and advocacy infrastructure, stages regular public events, produces propaganda, and supports legal defence and lobbying efforts. These activities require continuous funding for venues, logistics, materials, personnel, communications, and travel. Many of the people involved entered Canada or the United States as asylum seekers or temporary residents who described themselves as having fled with few resources. The operational scale of the campaign raises a basic question: where does the money come from?" questioned Kaur.
The report cites that the Department of Finance's 2025 Assessment of Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing Risks in Canada states that Babbar Khalsa International and the International Sikh Youth Federation — both listed terrorist entities under the 'Criminal Code in the Politically Motivated Violent Extremism' category — have been observed by law enforcement and intelligence agencies to receive financial support originating from Canada.
"The assessment notes that these groups are suspected of raising funds in Canada and elsewhere. Previously they maintained extensive fundraising networks; today they operate through smaller pockets of committed individuals. Documented methods include soliciting donations from diaspora communities, abuse of non-profit and charitable organisations, cryptocurrencies, and criminal activity. CSIS has separately confirmed that a subset of Canada-based Khalistani extremists continues to use the country as a base for the promotion, fundraising, or planning of violence primarily in India," the report details.
Highlighting the nexus, it mentions that criminal proceeds form a documented financing channel for listed entities operating on Canadian soil.
"Illegal drug trafficking is identified as the highest money-laundering threat in Canada, involving billions of dollars annually. A subset of Punjabi-Canadian organised crime groups has long controlled significant portions of the cocaine, methamphetamine, and fentanyl trade moving through Western Canada and Ontario’s trucking corridors. Since 2007, more than 200 gang-related homicides in British Columbia alone have been linked to rival Punjabi-Canadian gangs contesting that trade. Trucking companies have repeatedly served as cover for bulk shipments; major seizures, including hundreds of kilogrammes of cocaine in Peel Region, have involved Indo-Canadian suspects," the report emphasises while asserting that Indian investigators and Canadian law-enforcement sources have already flagged that a portion of these revenues is diverted toward diaspora political campaigns, legal defence funds, and organisational support.
"In at least one reported case, financial intelligence traced tens of thousands of dollars from a raided drug house to a registered Canadian charity associated with pro-Khalistan causes," it said.
Kaur details that high-profile figures involved in the organisation of so-called referendums have faced firearms charges. These, it said, are not abstract concerns but patterns repeatedly observed by Canadian police and intelligence agencies.
Citing recent intelligence inputs, Kaur wrote that the ISI is reassessing its spending as grassroots support for Khalistan weakens on the ground in Punjab and some former backers distance themselves from what they describe as a criminal syndicate involved in drugs, arms trafficking, and extortion.
"The logical next step is to follow the specific money that sustains SFJ referendums, legal efforts, propaganda, and organisational infrastructure—through financial intelligence analysis, charity audits, and proceeds-of-crime investigations," the report concluded.