Canada Prime Minister Justin Trudeau delivers a statement in the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Ontario, on Monday, Sept. 18, 2023. (Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press via AP) Sean Kilpatrick/AP

Canada says it has ‘credible’ intel linking India to assassination of Canadian citizen

Brady Knox September 18, 07:21 PM September 18, 07:21 PM Video Embed

The Canadian government said it has “credible” evidence that links the Indian government to the assassination of a Canadian citizen.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced before the House of Commons on Monday that Canadian intelligence was pursuing a link between the Indian government and the June murder of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, 45, a Sikh separatist leader, in British Columbia. The explosive allegation came during a particularly rocky period of Indian-Canadian relations, partially sparked by accusations that the Indian government was behind the slaying.

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“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 a Canadian citizen, Hardeep Singh Nijjar,” Trudeau said. “Canada is a rule-of-law country. The protection of our citizens and defense of our sovereignty are fundamental.”

“Our top priorities have therefore been 1. that our law enforcement and security agencies ensure the continued safety of all Canadians, and 2. that all steps be taken to hold the perpetrators of this murder to account,” he added.

Trudeau added that he had raised the matter with top Indian officials, including personally with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi at last week’s G20 summit, and urged India’s cooperation in the investigation.

Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly announced soon after that a top Indian diplomat had been expelled from the country over his alleged connection to the murder.

Nijjar was shot to death by two masked gunmen in the busy parking lot of a Sikh temple in Surrey, British Columbia, in June.

Supporters of Nijjar immediately blamed the death on the Indian government, which had labeled the Sikh leader a terrorist. His killing was the third such suspicious death over a few months — Paramjit Singh Panjwar was shot dead in May in Lahore, Pakistan, and Avtar Singh Khanda died in Birmingham, United Kingdom, under suspicious circumstances many believe was due to poisoning, the BBC reported.

Nijjar’s death led to an explosion in protests from the Sikh diaspora in Toronto, London, Melbourne, and San Francisco, blaming the Indian government for the killing.

India remained silent on the accusations but expressed outrage over the protests, particularly after some protesters in July held signs appearing to advocate violence, with slogans such as “Kill India.” The Canadian envoy was summoned in protest.

The issue has raised questions of national sovereignty, particularly after Sikh nationalists arranged nonbinding referendums on an independent Sikh state in Canada and other locations outside of India.

Some Indian figures celebrated Trudeau’s announcement.

“If what @JustinTrudeau is saying is true then EVERY , terrorist, mafia other assorted anti-India entities must watch-out.. That era of operating with impunity is over,” Akhilesh Mishra, an Indian columnist and CEO of the Mumbai think tank BlueKraft Digital Foundation, said in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter. “If you can be hunted down in far away Canada then those nearer India must shiver!”

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Sikh separatism, seeking to establish the independent state of Khalistan, remains a sensitive issue in India. Though the movement has largely refrained from violence in recent years, the 1980s saw an explosion in separatist violence that left scars to the current day.

In 1984, an anti-separatist campaign culminated in Operation Blue Star, an Indian army assault against Sikh separatists holed up in the Golden Temple, the holiest site of Sikhism. The operation itself left several hundred dead on both sides, including civilians, and led to the assassination of Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi by two of her Sikh bodyguards. The assassination sparked anti-Sikh pogroms across India, which killed several thousand. An insurgency in Punjab lasted for another decade, resulting in over 20,000 more deaths.

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