A separatist pro-Khalistan group plans to disrupt the flag-hoisting ceremony in US and Canada. (File)
Indian missions in the United States and Canada have sought security arrangements from local police and authorities as a separatist pro-Khalistan group plans to disrupt the flag-hoisting ceremony during the 70th Republic Day functions.
Sources said security has been sought for official functions to be held across cities in the US and Canada.
In the US, functions have been planned in Washington, New York, Houston, San Francisco, Chicago and Atlanta. Similar functions have been planned in Ottawa, Vancouver and Toronto in Canada. Toronto and Vancourver is home to a large number of Indians, especially from Punjab and the Sikh community.
A statement issued by the separatist group Sikhs For Justice (SFJ), from its New York headquarters through its legal advisor Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, said it will honour the pro-Khalistan Sikhs who will disrupt the hoisting of the Indian tricolor.
The SFJ is considered a Sikh separatist group by intelligence agencies which is demanding the creation of Khalistan as a separate territory for Sikhs.
In recent years, the SFJ has increased its separatist activities in US, Canada and Britain.
In December last year, the SFJ put up separatist posters and hoardings of 'Referendum 2020' in Pakistan when Indian pilgrims went to Nankana Sahib town to celebrate the 549th birth anniversary of Sikhism's founder, Guru Nanak Dev.
Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh had ordered a crackdown on the outfit amid "complaints by people of deliberate attempts to vitiate the state's atmosphere".