DEVELOPMENT OF THE STORYDEVELOPMENT OF THE STORY,
The arrests in connection with the murder of Hardeep Singh Nijjar last year are likely to further escalate diplomatic tensions between India and Canada.
Police in Canada have made arrests in the fatal shooting of prominent Sikh-Canadian activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar in 2023, according to media reports, months after authorities accused Indian government agents of being involved in the killing.
Citing unnamed sources, CBC News first reported Friday that Canadian police had arrested “members of a suspected hit squad that investigators believe was hired by the Indian government” to kill Nijjar.
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) is expected to hold a press conference later on Friday.
Nijjar was fatally shot on June 18, 2023, outside a Sikh temple in Surrey, a city in Canada’s westernmost province of British Columbia, prompting widespread condemnation.
A few months later, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said the country’s security agencies were investigating “credible allegations of a possible connection” between Indian government agents and Nijjar’s killing.
“Any involvement of a foreign government in the killing of a Canadian citizen on Canadian soil is an unacceptable violation of our sovereignty,” Trudeau said in an address to the Canadian Parliament last September.
“I continue to urge the Indian government to work with Canada to get to the bottom of this matter.”
His comments sparked a strong reaction from India, which dismissed the allegations as “absurd” and politically motivated. New Delhi also accused Canada of not doing enough to curb anti-India activism and “Sikh extremism.”
But Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government has long faced accusations of targeting political opponents, journalists and religious minorities, including Muslims and Sikhs, in what human rights groups say is an ongoing attempt to suppress dissent.
At the time of Nijjar’s assassination, tensions had been rising between Canada and India over a Sikh campaign for a sovereign state in India’s Punjab region. The campaign, known as the Khalistan Movement, has supporters in Canada.
Nijjar was president of the Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara, the temple where he was killed. He was among those who campaigned for Khalistan.
Canada’s Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc was asked to comment on Friday’s reports that arrests had been made in the case and referred reporters’ questions to the RCMP.
“You will understand that the developments surrounding the murder of a Canadian citizen, Mr. Nijjar, are part of an ongoing police operation. This operation started today. This is still an active police operation,” LeBlanc said in Ottawa.
According to CBC News, those arrested Friday “played different roles as shooter, driver and observer on the day Nijjar was killed.”
“Sources say investigators identified the suspected hit squad members in Canada several months ago and have been closely monitoring them,” the Canadian broadcaster said.
The Indian High Commission in Ottawa did not immediately respond to Al Jazeera’s request for comment on Friday afternoon.
Meanwhile, Nijjar’s killing continues to raise questions about allegations of foreign interference by India, particularly within Sikh diaspora communities in Canada, the United States and other countries.
In September, Moninder Singh of the BC Gurdwaras Council told Al Jazeera that he was among five Sikh leaders – including Nijjar – who were warned of threats to their lives by the RCMP’s national security branch in 2022.
Following Nijjar’s death, reports of an alleged plot to kill another prominent Sikh separatist leader in the US have also emerged. At the end of November, the US Department of Justice announced charges against 52-year-old Indian citizen Nikhil Gupta.
Gupta was accused of being part of a foiled assassination attempt on U.S. citizen Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, carried out in coordination with an Indian government official and others.
The Washington Post reported earlier this week that U.S. intelligence agencies determined that the operation against Pannun was approved by the then-chief of India’s foreign intelligence agency RAW.
According to media reports, the Indian government dismissed these allegations as “baseless” and “baseless.”