The ongoing protest by over 1,000 Punjabi students, who have been on Calgary streets protesting against the denial of post-graduation work permits (PGWPs) for the past nearly 10 days, allegedly has a Jalandhar connection.They were reportedly lured by an immigration firm in Jalandhar whose owner also co-owned the Canadian Institute of Osteopathic Therapy (CIOT). This designated learning institute operated via a public-private partnership with Protage College, where the students were enrolled in various diploma courses, spanning eight months to two years.While the owner is currently learnt to be in Dubai, where he is running a realty business, the students are at a crossroads.The immigration agent-turned-realtor, who allegedly owns a plush house in New Jawahar Nagar locality here and is developing a high-end residential locality in the city, did not respond to repeated phone calls.His close friends in the immigration business in Jalandhar maintained that he had no role in what had happened. “The Canadian government keeps on changing its rules for international students, which has led to the situation. On his part, he had taken the students to Canada in a legal manner,” one of them said.Kanwar Sierah, an immigration lawyer based in Canada who first gave the details about the CIOT’s connection with the immigration firm, claimed that he had received a legal notice from Jalandhar for his statement.The protesting students reportedly passed out last year and after that applied for the permit. However, mass refusals came from Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada around mid-July. Their applications were rejected on the grounds that their programmes were “non-credit”, making them ineligible for the permit.The students, who paid an annual fee of 16,000 Canadian dollars (nearly Rs 10 lakh) were hoping to secure Canadian work experience and eventually permanent residency there. However, now they have been forced to apply for a judicial review for which they have been seeking support from the Canadian Punjabi community. The students had also approached Punjab-origin Canadian MP Sukh Dhaliwal. Punjabi singer Amrit Mann too recently joined them at the protest site in Calgary. In case the students do not get relief, they will have to return to Punjab in the next 70 days.Alberta Premier Danielle Smith had said, “I will not describe Portage College as a diploma mill. However, there have been instances where unscrupulous operators have set up diploma-granting firms and taken advantage of students. Our view is that if you come here as international students and your visa expires, and you do not have permanent residency, you need to go back.”Reacting to the controversy, senior BJP leader Jattvibeil Jakhar urged Canada to provide transitional relief to the affected students. He said families had invested heavily based on the policy prevailing at the time of the admission. He appealed to the Ministry of External Affairs to take up the matter with Ottawa, arguing that Indian students should not suffer because of retrospective interpretation of eligibility norms.SAD leader Bikram Singh Majithia also put out a post in favour of the students. “In Canada, day and night, rain or shine, our children stand by the roadsides, holding posters that read ‘Approve our PGWP’. They are not just students. They carry the prayers of Punjabi families. With folded hands, I humbly appeal to External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and all Punjabi-origin MPs in Canada to intervene in the matter. To the lakhs of Punjabi brothers living in Canada, please stand with these children,” he said.