Canada-India Tensions Accelerate Over Sikh Leader’s Murder

By Sajjad Shaukat

Very tensions accelerated between Canada and India on September 18, this year when Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said in the parliament that Canada was investigating “credible allegations” linking India to the June killing of Canadian citizen and prominent Sikh leader, Hardeep Singh Nijjar. 

PM Trudeau elaborated: “He brought up the slaying with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the G20…told Modi that any Indian government involvement would be unacceptable and that he asked for cooperation in the investigation”.

Trudeau added: “Over the past number of weeks, Canadian security agencies have been actively pursuing credible allegations of a potential link between agents of the government of India and the killing of Nijjar.” 

Canada has also kicked out an Indian diplomat whom foreign affairs minister Mélanie Joly described as the head of the Indian intelligence agency in the country. She said that Trudeau has raised this issue with both US President Joe Biden and British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.

In response, India expelled a senior Canadian diplomat based in India.

Notably, the leading Canadian Sikh leader of the Khalistan’s movement Nijjar was killed on June 18, this year. According to local police, he was gunned down in his truck by two masked gunmen outside a Sikh temple in Surrey, British Columbia.

In a video statement, foremost pro-Khalistan’s separatist group Sikhs For Justice (SFJ) General Counsel Gurpatwant Singh Pannun had condemned the killing of SFJ’s Canada leader and leading Sikh campaigner Hardeep Singh Nijjar.

He had disclosed that the “Indian intelligence agency Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), acting under the instructions of Narendra Modi—his close associates Amit Shah and Ajit Doval assassinated Hardeep Singh Nijjar—the incharge of Khalistan Referendum in Canada”.

His death shocked and outraged the Sikh community in Canada—one of the largest outside India and home to more than 770,000 members of the religious minority.

Following Trudeau’s comments, two prominent Sikh community groups in Canada, the British Columbia Gurdwaras Council (BCGC) and Ontario Gurdwaras Committee (OGC), urged the Canadian government to “immediately suspend all intelligence, investigative and prosecutorial cooperation with India.

In this regard, the US Ambassador to Canada David Cohen told Canadian CTV News network that information shared by members [‘Five Eyes’ partners] of an intelligence-sharing alliance was part of what Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau used to make public allegations of the Indian government’s possible involvement in the assassination of a Canadian Sikh.

The United States has urged India to cooperate with Canada on Sikh leader’s assassination probe. John Kirby, the spokesperson for the White House National Security Council (NSC), emphasised the importance of a fully transparent and comprehensive investigation to uncover the truth surrounding the incident. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken also expressed similar thoughts.

According to the CBC News, “Earlier, PM Trudeau briefed his closest allies UK PM Rishi Sunak, French President Emmanuel Macron, and US President Joe Biden about the progress made in the killing of Khalistan leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar”.

Nevertheless, these major countries insisted upon an impartial enquiry regarding the incident.

It is mentionable that condemning this incident as a “reckless and irresponsible act, the spokesperson of Foreign Office of Pakistan Mumtaz Zahra Baloch stated on September 20, 2023 that the news of Indian involvement in an extra-judicial killing in Canada have shown that the country’s network of extra-territorial killings have now gone global—“India’s act of assassinating a Canadian citizen on Canadian soil constitutes a blatant violation of international laws and the UN principle of state sovereignty”.

Nonetheless, SFJ Gurpatwant Singh Pannun had remarked in June, this year: “While SFJ has been using ballots for the liberation of Punjab from Indian occupation, India has set the cycle of violence into motion by resorting to the use of bullets. While Indian bullets cannot stop the Khalistan Referendum which will balkanize India and liberate Punjab, Modi, Shah and Doval should be prepared for facing the justice under the international law for ordering the killing of pro-Khalistan Sikhs.” He avowed “to avenge Nijjar’s death by bringing down and dismantling Indian system.”

In this context, officials also added that when his body was being moved from the scene by the Canadian police, a group of Sikhs raised pro-Khalistan and anti-India slogans.

Reports suggest that Nijjar had been warned by Canada’s spy agency about threats against him.

Nijjar’s death came few days after a close aide of Amritpal Singh Avtar Singh Khanda died in the UK. Khanda was the chief of the UK-based group—Khalistan Liberation Force (KLF). He was suffering from blood cancer and took his last breath at the Sandwell Hospital in Birmingham. He played a major role in radicalizing Sikh youth towards the pro-independence movement.

Reports also indicated that Avtar Singh was working in close association with UK based Sikhs, Paramjit Singh Pamma and Nijjar who were spearheading secessionist campaign ‘Referendum 2020’ of organization ‘Sikhs For Justice’.

In this connection, India Today revealed on June 15, 2023: “Avtar Singh Khanda, UK-based chief of the Khalistan Liberation Force and the main handler of Khalistani separatist Amritpal Singh, has died, sources said—Khanda, who helped Amritpal Singh evade the police for 37 days in between March and April, was suspected of being poisoned—Medical records, though, say that he was suffering from blood cancer.”

It is worth-mentioning that after the brutal operation Blue Star launched by the Indian Army in 1984 at highly sacred Sikh religious place-the Golden Temple complex (Harmandir Sahib) in Amritsar, Punjab where their spiritual leader Sant Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale had taken shelter, international community had thought that perhaps Sikhs had become lethargic in connection with their demand for an independent state in the Indian Punjab, named Khalistan. But, Sikhs organized themselves into an armed power in order to fight the Indian state terrorism. Many Sikhs left India to escape further genocide. Sikhs have spread out all over the world to keep the movement of Khalistan alive. Hence, their struggle is still going on.

Participation of almost 208,000 Sikhs in the Khalistan Referendums held in the recent years in four western countries—UK, Geneva, Italy and Canada to demand the liberation of Indian Punjab show that Sikhs have intensified their movement.

Besides, in Sydney, over 31,000 Sikhs voted for Khalistan Referendum on June 4, 2023 amid stiff resistance from the Indian government and Indian Premier Modi’s personal campaign to stop Sikhs from holding the third phase of referendum in Australia.

In this respect, SFJ’s General Counsel Gurpatwant Singh Pannun stated that the Sydney turnout was a reflection of an extraordinary growing global support for liberation of Punjab from Indian occupation.

It is pertinent to mention that Khalistan Referendum’s voting in Sydney was the third phase of the Australian campaign. The first phase was held in Melbourne in January, this year when over 50,000 Sikhs turned out to cast their votes. The second phase was held in Brisbane in March 2023 where more than 11,000 Sikhs had voted.

Meanwhile, Sikh activists shouted slogans in support of Khalistan during a protest rally outside the Indian High Commission in London on July 8, 2023. They also held RAW for the death of Khalistani leader Nijjar. Such demonstrations were also conducted in some Western countries.

As Sikh community has accelerated their struggle for Khalistan, therefore, notable leaders of Sikh diaspora are on the hit list of Modi regime. The killing of another Sikh leader Sukhdool Singh, popularly known as Sukha Duneke—an active campaigner for Khalistan by unidentified people on September 20, 2023 in Canada verified it.

Sajjad Shaukat writes on international affairs and is author of the book: US vs Islamic Militants, Invisible Balance of Power: Dangerous Shift in International Relations

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