Montreal in Canada – Sikh leaders in North America have welcomed the recent arrests in the murder 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 murder of Nijjar, a prominent leader of the Sikh community in the westernmost province of British Columbia.
Police added that the investigation into Nijjar’s shooting death would continue, including whether “there is any link with the government of India.”
Moninder Singh, spokesperson for the Gurdwaras Council of BC, 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 Indian state involvement is “haunting” the Sikh community, which numbers about 770,000 people across Canada – the largest Sikh diaspora outside India.
“Foreign interference is real. The assassination plot is real,” Singh said, adding that it is imperative to find out what India’s role has been.
“All of this has to be exposed,” he continued. “There [are] numerous reasons why it is very, very important for public safety in Canada, as well as deterring India from carrying out this type of operation again.”
Canada-India tensions
Tensions between Canada and India spiked in September after Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced that authorities were investigating “credible allegations of a potential link” between Indian government agents and Nijjar’s murder.
Nijjar was shot to death on June 18, 2023, in front of the Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara, a temple in Surrey, British Columbia, where he served as president.
India has vehemently denied the allegations of involvement, calling them “absurd”. He also accused Nijjar of being involved in “terrorism” – an allegation rejected by his supporters.
Nijjar was a leading supporter of what is known as the Khalistan movement, a Sikh campaign for a sovereign state in the Indian region of Punjab.
Although largely dormant in India itself, Sikh separatism is widely seen as a threat by the Indian government, which has urged Western nations to crack down on leaders of the Khalistan movement in the diaspora.
Canada has provided shelter to “Khalistani terrorists and extremists” who “continue to threaten India’s sovereignty and territorial integrity,” India’s Ministry of External Affairs said he 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 murder amplified these long-standing tensions and new reports emerged about the involvement of Indian authorities in other alleged plots to harm prominent Sikh leaders in Canada and the United States.
Threat Reports
For example, in late November, the U.S. Department of Justice charges announced against a 52-year-old Indian citizen, Nikhil Gupta, over a failed attempt to assassinate American Sikh activist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun.
The plot to kill Pannun, another Sikh separatist leader, was organized in coordination with an Indian government official and others, according to the Justice Department.
Last week, The Washington Post reported that US intelligence agencies determined that the operation to target Pannun was approved by the then-head of India’s foreign intelligence agency, known as the Research and Analysis Wing or RAW.
The Indian government has rejected these allegations as “unjustified” and “baseless”, according to media reports.
But rights groups said India “needs to do much more than deny denials” in these cases.
“India’s alleged involvement in assassination plots in the US and Canada suggests a new and high-profile spike in extrajudicial killings,” said 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 the prominent Sikh leaders who were informed of threats against them last year.
Agents from the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) visited Pritpal, who lives in the state of 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 agencies” in their investigations into Nijjar’s murder and the surveillance of Sikhs.
“The Indian government’s alleged involvement in these heinous acts is a flagrant violation of international norms and human rights. It is completely unacceptable for any government to engage in extrajudicial killings and suppress dissenting voices abroad,” he said.
Pritpal also demanded accountability for threats against Sikh activists. “We must insist on U.S. justice against those involved in India’s alleged murder-for-hire scheme targeting Americans on American soil,” he said.
“It is imperative that these cases be prosecuted on American soil by the United States Department of Justice to prevent these perpetrators from prosecuting themselves.”
India attacks Canada
Still, India continued to deny any involvement in the alleged conspiracies, while criticizing Canada for its approach to the Nijjar assassination, in particular.
The Indian High Commission in Ottawa, the Canadian capital, did not respond to Al Jazeera’s requests for comment.
Following the news on 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 Indian media outlet The Economic Times this week, Jaishankar also accused Canada of “providing a haven for organized crime.”
“We have repeatedly told Canadians that if you actually allow such forces to establish themselves and create networks, it will harm your own society. But so far, I don’t think that advice has been well heeded,” the minister said.
Canadian authorities rejected the idea that they had allowed illegal activities to proliferate. Experts also argue that many of the individuals India considers “terrorists” are not violating any Canadian laws.
“Canada is a country that respects the rule of law, with a strong and independent justice system, as well as a fundamental commitment to protecting all of its citizens,” Trudeau said during a Sikh community event in Toronto on Saturday.
“I know that many Canadians, especially members of the Sikh community, are feeling uncomfortable and perhaps even scared right now. Well, every Canadian has the fundamental right to live safely and free from discrimination and threats of violence in Canada,” Trudeau added.
An engaging conversation at @EconomicTimes‘ desk.
– 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 that accused Indian authorities, as well as their representatives in Canada, of engaging in “a range of activities that seek to influence communities and Canadian politicians.”
This includes efforts to “align Canada’s position with India’s interests on key issues, particularly with regard to how the Indian government views supporters of an independent Sikh homeland based in Canada,” Commissioner Marie-Josee Hogue he said.
The report noted that India “does not distinguish between legal, pro-Khalistani political advocacy and the relatively small Khalistani violent extremism based in Canada.”
Therefore, it “sees anyone aligned with Khalistani separatism as a seditious threat to India.”
Hogue also found that Indian authorities increasingly rely on Canadian and Canadian-based representatives and their contacts to conduct foreign interference.
“This obfuscates any explicit link between India and foreign interference activities. Representatives connect and work with Indian intelligence officials in India and Canada, receiving explicit and implicit guidance from them,” the report said.
Sikh communities ‘galvanizing’
Ultimately, Sikh leaders called for a full investigation into all those who may be involved in threats against members of their communities, including Indian state officials.
“I cannot speak to the motivation of the Indian state if it is proven that they are behind these heinous attacks,” said Kavneet Singh, chairman of the board of the American Sikh Legal Defense and Education Fund (SALDEF), a US think tank. based civil rights group.
“But they have a long history of suppressing free speech and targeting those who speak in dissent.”
Kavneet told Al Jazeera that the American Sikh community is advocating at the federal and state levels “to improve legislation to better help authorities understand, identify and prosecute” cases of transnational repression.
He added that despite the threats, the history of the Sikh community “has not been one of living in fear”.
Instead, “it’s about understanding that there are potential threats and it’s [one of] be vigilant,” said Kavneet. “In fact, I think this is galvanizing the community and our diasporic allies.
“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, at the BC Council of Gurdwaras, echoed that sentiment, stressing that the Indian government is trying to “silence” Sikh voices in the diaspora who advocate a sovereign state.
Singh was among five Sikh leaders – including Nijjar – who were warned by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police’s national security division in 2022 about threats against their lives.
He told Al Jazeera on Tuesday that Canadian authorities have told him over the past two months that the threat against him is “still real” and that he should avoid large public gatherings.
“If we talk about this matter [Khalistan] and we will lead the community on this issue in the diaspora, I think these threats will always exist now. There is no going back,” he said.
“When Hardeep’s murder happened, it really made it clear to some of us that this is real. This is the new real for us and the new reality, that this can happen at any time.”
This story originally appeared on Aljazeera.com read the full story
