Montreal Canada – Sikh leaders in North America have welcomed recent arrests in connection with the killing of Canadian Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar, but allegations that the Indian government was involved continue to fuel questions and unease.
Canadian police announced late last week that three Indian nationals had been arrested in Canada for their involvement in the June killing of Nijjar, a prominent Sikh community leader in British Columbia’s westernmost province.
Police added that their investigation into Nijjar’s shooting death was continuing, including whether “there are any links to the Indian government.”
Moninder Singh, a spokesman for the BC Gurdwaras Council, a coalition of Sikh temples in the province, told Al Jazeera there was “some relief” that arrests had been made in the case.
But Singh, who knew Nijjar personally, said the issue of the Indian state’s involvement “hangs over the Sikh community,” which numbers about 770,000 people across Canada – the largest Sikh diaspora outside India.
“Foreign interference is real. “The assassination attempt is real,” Singh said, adding that it was imperative to get to the bottom of India’s role.
“All of this needs to be exposed,” he continued. “There [are] There are numerous reasons why it is very, very important to public safety in Canada and to deter India from ever conducting this type of operation again.”
Tensions between Canada and India
Tensions between Canada and India skyrocketed in September after Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced that authorities were investigating “credible allegations of a possible connection” between Indian government agents and Nijjar’s killing.
Nijjar was fatally shot on June 18, 2023, outside the Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara, a temple in Surrey, British Columbia, where he served as president.
India vehemently rejected the allegations in this regard, calling them “absurd”. It also accused Nijjar of being involved in “terrorism” – a claim rejected by his supporters.
Nijjar was a leading advocate of the so-called Khalistan movement, a Sikh campaign for a sovereign state in India’s Punjab region.
Although Sikh separatism is largely dormant in India itself, it is largely seen as a threat by the Indian government, which has pushed Western nations to crack down on leaders of the Khalistan movement in the diaspora.
Canada has provided protection to “Khalistani terrorists and extremists” who “continue to threaten India’s sovereignty and territorial integrity,” India’s foreign ministry said in rejecting Trudeau’s allegations in September.
But Sikh leaders in Canada said they have faced threats for years and accused the Indian government of trying to silence them.
Nijjar’s killing heightened these long-standing tensions, and new reports have emerged of Indian officials’ involvement in other suspected plots to harm prominent Sikh leaders in Canada and the United States.
Reports of threats
For example, at the end of November, the US Department of Justice announced charges against 52-year-old Indian citizen Nikhil Gupta for a foiled assassination attempt on American Sikh activist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun.
The plan to kill Pannun, another Sikh separatist leader, was organized in coordination with an Indian government employee and others, according to the Justice Department.
Last week, The Washington Post reported that U.S. intelligence agencies had determined that the operation against Pannun was approved by the then-chief of India’s foreign intelligence agency, known as the Research and Analysis Wing, or RAW.
According to media reports, the Indian government dismissed these allegations as “baseless” and “baseless.”
However, human rights groups have said that India “needs to do much more than just issue denials” in such cases.
“India’s alleged involvement in assassinations in the United States and Canada points to a new and notorious rise in extrajudicial killings,” Elaine Pearson, Asia director at Human Rights Watch, said in December.
Pritpal Singh, an activist and founder of the American Sikh Caucus Committee, was among prominent Sikh leaders notified of threats against them last year.
Agents from the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) visited Pritpal, who lives in California, in June to warn him.
In a statement to Al Jazeera this week, Pritpal said he praised “the unwavering commitment of Canadian and American law enforcement” in their investigation into Nijjar’s murder and surveillance of Sikhs.
“The Indian government’s alleged involvement in these heinous acts is a blatant violation of international norms and human rights. “It is completely unacceptable for any government to carry out extrajudicial killings and suppress dissenting voices abroad,” he said.
Pritpal also called for accountability for threats against Sikh activists. “We must insist on U.S. justice against those involved in India’s alleged assassination program against Americans on U.S. soil,” he said.
“It is imperative that these cases on American soil be prosecuted by the U.S. Department of Justice to prevent these perpetrators from prosecuting themselves.”
India strikes Canada
However, India continued to deny any involvement in the alleged attacks and criticized Canada in particular for its handling of Nijjar’s killing.
The Indian High Commission in Ottawa, the Canadian capital, did not respond to Al Jazeera’s requests for comment on the case.
After news broke Friday that Canadian authorities had made arrests, Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said the Canadian government had a “political compulsion” to blame India.
Speaking to India’s The Economic Times this week, Jaishankar also accused Canada of “providing a haven for organized crime.”
“We have told Canadians time and time again that actually allowing such forces to establish themselves and build networks will harm their own society. But so far I don’t think this advice has been well heeded,” said the minister.
Canadian authorities have rejected the idea that they have allowed illegal activity to spread. Experts also argue that many of the people India considers “terrorists” are not violating Canadian laws.
“Canada is a country governed by the rule of law with a strong and independent justice system and a fundamental commitment to the protection of all its citizens,” Trudeau said Saturday during a Sikh community event in Toronto.
“I know many Canadians, particularly members of the Sikh community, are feeling uncomfortable and perhaps even scared right now. “Now, every Canadian has the fundamental right to live safely in Canada and free from discrimination and threats of violence,” Trudeau added.
An exciting conversation @EconomicTimes‘ Office. https://t.co/DO32w3inVW
-DR. S Jaishankar (Modi Ka Parivar) (@DrSJaishankar) May 6, 2024
Use of “Proxies”
Last week, the head of a Canadian public inquiry into foreign interference also released an interim report in which he accused Indian officials and their proxies in Canada of engaging in “a range of activities aimed at influencing Canadian communities and politicians.”
This includes efforts to “align Canada’s position on key issues with India’s interests, particularly with regard to how the Indian government perceives Canada-based supporters of an independent Sikh homeland,” said Commissioner Marie-Josee Hogue.
The report noted that India “makes no distinction between legitimate, pro-Khalistani political engagement and the relatively small-scale Khalistani violent extremism based in Canada.”
Therefore, it “views anyone who allies with Khalistani separatism as a seditious threat to India.”
Hogue also noted that Indian officials are increasingly relying on Canadian and Canadian-based proxies and their contacts to intervene abroad.
“This obscures any explicit link between India and foreign interference activities. Proxies liaise with and work with Indian intelligence officials in India and Canada, receiving both explicit and implicit instructions from them,” the report said.
“Galvanizing” Sikh communities
Ultimately, Sikh leaders have called for a full investigation of anyone who may be involved in threats against members of their communities, including Indian civil servants.
“I cannot say anything about the motivation of the Indian state if it is proven that it is behind these heinous attacks,” said Kavneet Singh, chief executive of the Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund (SALDEF), a U.S. legal defense fund. resident civil rights group.
“But they have a long history of suppressing free speech and targeting those who disagree with them.”
Kavneet told Al Jazeera that the American Sikh community is committed to this at the federal and state levels.for improved legislation to help law enforcement authorities better understand, identify and prosecute cases of cross-border repression.
He added that despite the threats, the history of the Sikh community was “not one of living in fear.”
Instead, “it’s about understanding that there are potential threats, and there are.” [one of] be vigilant,” Kavneet said. “In fact, I think this is actually galvanizing the community and our allies in the diaspora.
“While there may be political differences between communities, ultimately we stand together when community members and/or our institutions are threatened by foreign or domestic actors.”
Singh of the BC Gurdwaras Council echoed this sentiment, stressing that the Indian government is trying to silence Sikh voices in the diaspora who are advocating for a sovereign state.
Singh was among five Sikh leaders – including Nijjar – warned of threats to their lives by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police’s national security branch in 2022.
He told Al Jazeera on Tuesday that Canadian authorities had told him over the past two months that the threat against him was “still real” and that he should avoid large public gatherings.
“When we talk about this topic [Khalistan] and we will lead the community in the diaspora on this issue. I think these threats will always be there now. “There’s no way we’ll ever come back,” he said.
“When Hardeep’s murder happened, it really dawned on some of us that this is real. This is the new reality for us and the new reality that this can happen at any time.”