“I Challenge the Darkness”: From TIFF to the Classroom, Khalra’s Light Refuses to Go Out

Jaswant Singh Khalra told a story before he was silenced. Now, we must carry its light.

Image Courtesy of Toronto International Film Festival 2023 & Punjab 95.

Before Jaswant Singh Khalra was abducted and murdered in 1995 for uncovering the extrajudicial killings of thousands of Sikhs in Punjab, he shared a Punjabi folktale.

I’ve turned to that story many times when hope felt fragile, when truth was under siege, and when the night seemed too…