People walk at Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara, site of the 2023 murder of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, in Surrey, B.C., on May 3.Jennifer Gauthier/Reuters
A day after three Indian nationals living in Edmonton were charged in the killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told Sikhs in Canada that every citizen has a right to be safe and that authorities are still investigating whether others are also responsible for his death.
Mr. Nijjar, a Sikh Canadian spiritual leader, was fatally shot nearly a year ago in Surrey, B.C. – a death that has enraged the Sikh community in this country. Sikh activists say India orchestrated his killing because of Mr. Nijjar’s leadership in promoting the creation of an independent Sikh state, called Khalistan, that would be carved from the South Asian country.
Last September, Mr. Trudeau made a rare public allegation that agents of India may have been involved. The Indian government denied any involvement and dismissed Mr. Trudeau’s claims as “unsubstantiated,” and the charge sparked a diplomatic crisis that has affected everything from trade to tourism with the most populous country in the world.
On Saturday, Mr. Trudeau did not mention the Indian government directly, but he acknowledged the Sikh community is feeling “uneasy and perhaps even frightened right now.”
Attending an event to mark a Sikh cultural exhibit at the Royal Ontario Museum, the Prime Minister said “the investigation remains ongoing, as does a separate and distinct investigation not limited to the involvement of the three people arrested.”
He said “every Canadian has the fundamental right to live safely and free from discrimination and threats of violence in Canada.”
At a news conference Friday announcing the arrests, RCMP Assistant Commissioner David Teboul affirmed the force’s probe included “investigating connections to the government of India.” He said there are numerous cases still open and they are “certainly not limited to the involvement of the people arrested today.”
But at a forum held in eastern India over the weekend, Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar accused Canada of welcoming and harbouring criminals. Without referring to Mr. Nijjar’s slaying directly, Mr. Jaishankar also accused Canada of giving electoral clout to people wanting to carve out Khalistan from India.
Since Mr. Trudeau made public the allegations against India in the House of Commons last fall, more evidence has emerged of the involvement of Indian officials in the alleged plot. That includes a criminal indictment in the United States, which alleges an Indian intelligence officer enlisted underworld figures to assassinate Sikhs who advocate for Khalistan.
The three men charged Friday – Karanpreet Singh, 28, Kamalpreet Singh, 22, and Karan Brar, 22 – have been living in Canada for the past three to five years.
The World Sikh Organization of Canada, and others, are calling for answers about who allegedly enlisted them and why.
“While we welcome arrests in the assassination of Bhai Hardeep Singh Nijjar, we believe these arrests raise disturbing questions about the nexus between the Government of India and criminal gangs,” said Danish Singh, president of the World Sikh Organization, in a statement.
India’s government classified Mr. Nijjar as a terrorist in 2021, but his supporters see him as a human rights activist exercising his right to free speech.
Mr. Nijjar was a leading organizer with Sikhs for Justice, a group organizing votes for a non-binding referendum advocating for the creation of Khalistan. Hundreds of thousands of Sikhs have voted in the campaign in Canada, the United States, Britain and Australia.
Mr. Jaishankar, who was asked about the arrests on Saturday, said “our biggest problem right now is in Canada.”
He said the federal Liberals, as well as other parties, “have given these kinds of extremism, separatism, advocates of violence a certain legitimacy, in the name of free speech.”
Mr. Jaishankar said he has asked Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly about “attacks or threats” to India’s diplomatic missions and staff in Canada.
There have been frequent protests in front of Indian consulates and the high commission in Ottawa. At one, in January, 2023, India complained that its diplomats felt threatened and suggested grenades had been thrown. Ottawa police said they were investigating “the possible use of smoke canisters.”
In his conversation with Ms. Joly, Mr. Jaishankar said he asked Ms. Joly to ”’suppose it happened to you. If it was your diplomat, your embassy, your flag, how would you react?’ So, we have to keep our position strong.”
He added: “Somebody may have been arrested; the police may have done some investigation. But the fact is (a) number of gangland people, (a) number of people with organized crime links from Punjab, have been made welcome in Canada.”
Sikh leaders allege India’s spy agency, called the Research and Analysis Wing or RAW, has spent years focusing on Sikhs in Western countries advocating for the creation of Khalistan.
They point to comments made by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi at a rally last month indicating the country’s willingness to act against those abroad it considers threats.
“This new India comes into your home to kill you,” Mr. Modi said, at an election rally on April 5. “My India does not send dossiers. We kill terrorists at their home turf.”
A spokesperson for the Indian High Commissioner in Ottawa said he was travelling and unable to comment on Mr. Modi’s remarks. Indian High Commissioner Sanjay Kumar Verma said he would not comment on “arrests made for crimes committed in Canada,” calling “this an internal matter for Canada.”
Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, a close friend of Mr. Nijjar’s and another leader with Sikhs for Justice, urged Canadian officials to investigate Indian consular officials who he believes are involved in surveillance of Sikh activists abroad.
The New York-based lawyer was also targeted for assassination in June, 2023, according to a U.S. indictment that was unsealed in November.
“Canada’s political leadership must stand on the right side of history in countering the Modi government’s transnational repression of pro-Khalistan Sikhs on Canadian soil, to ensure this sort of violence never happens again,” Mr. Pannun said in a statement.
“Canadian politicians of every stripe must stand with Canadian Sikhs’ right to peacefully advocate for Khalistan without facing any violent retaliation from the Indian Government.”
Last week, Commissioner Marie-Josée Hogue released her initial report from the Public Inquiry into Foreign Interference that found that India is deeply involved in efforts to influence Canadian affairs, and that the country sees all pro-Khalistan political advocacy as a serious threat.
India has attempted to disguise that interference by using Canadian and Canadian-based proxies that allow it to deny links to New Delhi, Ms. Hogue wrote, although she wasn’t able to provide specifics because her findings were based on classified documents.
With a file from The Canadian Press