Who was Hardeep Singh Nijjar the Khalistani separatist that Canada’s PM Trudeau says India may have got killed .
a tragic incident in British Columbia, Canada, has sparked a significant diplomatic dispute between Canada and India. It involved the killing of a Sikh separatist named Hardeep Singh Nijjar, who was a vocal advocate for the creation of an independent nation called Khalistan. Khalistan would encompass parts of India’s Punjab State.
Nijjar, 45 years old, had moved to Canada in the mid-1990s, as reported by Indian news sources. This move followed a period when the Indian government was taking strong actions against the Sikh movement.
Many years later, the Indian government labeled Nijjar as a terrorist, accusing him of planning a violent attack in India in connection with his advocacy for Khalistan. In June, tragedy struck when two individuals wearing masks killed him in front of a Sikh temple located in Surrey, British Columbia, which is a city on the border with Washington.
Hardeep Singh Nijjar was originally from the Jalandhar district in the North Indian state of Punjab. In Canada, he built a life for himself; he got married, had two sons, worked as a plumber, and even served as the president of the Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara, a Sikh temple in Surrey, starting in 2020.
Before successfully immigrating to Canada, there were some earlier attempts by Mr. Hardeep Singh Nijjar to come to the country. According to a report by Canadian news outlet Global News, he initially applied as a refugee, but the Canadian government found that part of his application was untrue. Just 11 days later, he married a woman who was sponsoring him to come to Canada, but this attempt was also rejected by the government.
However, Mr. Nijjar eventually obtained Canadian citizenship in March 2015. Canada’s immigration minister, Marc Miller, confirmed this on a social media platform called “X” (formerly known as Twitter). Mr. Miller hoped that this would clarify any unfounded rumors suggesting that Mr. Nijjar was not a Canadian citizen.
In an open letter penned in 2016, Mr. Nijjar openly stated, “I am a Sikh nationalist who believes in and supports Sikhs’ right to self-determination and independence for the Indian occupied Punjab through a future referendum.”
The Indian government, in 2020, labeled Mr. Nijjar a terrorist. They claimed to have evidence that he was involved in activities promoting rebellion and inciting violence, as well as trying to create conflicts among different communities in India. The government also accused him of leading a banned terrorist organization in India called the Khalistan Tiger Force.
In 2018, India’s top investigative agency filed a separate complaint against Hardeep Singh Nijjar. They accused him of conspiring and plotting a significant terrorist attack within India. Additionally, the agency alleged that he had plans to carry out violent attacks at gatherings organized by the nationalist right-wing group Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).
Last year, Indian news sources reported that an Indian investigative agency had offered a reward of $12,000 for information leading to his arrest.
A Canadian journalist named Gurpreet Singh, who conducted Mr. Hardeep Singh Nijjar’s last interview, shared a different perspective. In this interview with the independent Indian news outlet The Wire, Mr. Singh highlighted some of Mr. Nijjar’s community activities as a religious leader.
According to Mr. Singh, Mr. Nijjar organized special prayers for several important causes. He held prayers for the Muslim victims of the Christchurch bombings in 2019 in New Zealand. He also conducted prayers for Indigenous children following the heartbreaking discovery of unmarked graves at Canadian residential schools. Additionally, Mr. Nijjar advocated for the release of an Indian human rights defender who used a wheelchair.
However, in the Indian state of Punjab, where Mr. Nijjar was originally from, politicians and a journalist mentioned that despite the charges against him by the Indian government, he and his movement were not widely recognized. Raman Arora, a legislator from the governing party in Jalandhar, remarked that Mr. Nijjar had left the region many years ago, and few people there remember him or discuss his involvement. Furthermore, it was noted that the Khalistan movement, which Mr. Nijjar supported, had lost its prominence in Punjab for several decades.
Jagtar Singh, a seasoned journalist from Punjab, echoed the sentiment that Mr. Hardeep Singh Nijjar was not a well-known figure in the region. In his decades of covering Punjab, he had never come across any information about Mr. Nijjar.
Vineet Joshi, a leader from the Bharatiya Janata Party in Punjab, also acknowledged that Mr. Nijjar’s name didn’t ring a bell among the local population. He pointed out that the Canadian government had, in his view, allowed individuals with anti-India sentiments to thrive in Canada, especially those associated with the Khalistan movement.
Mr. Joshi expressed concern about Canada becoming a center for Khalistan activities and anti-India sentiments. While acknowledging the importance of freedom of speech, he stressed that advocating for the disintegration of another nation should not be tolerated. He also emphasized that the current Indian leadership, under Prime Minister Modi, was much stronger.
At a memorial held in British Columbia for Mr. Nijjar, his son Balraj Singh Nijjar called on the Canadian prime minister to work with allies and increase pressure on the Indian government. For the Nijjar family, the pain of Mr. Nijjar’s death was still very fresh. Balraj Singh Nijjar shared that his father had even called home just five minutes before the tragic incident, asking them to prepare dinner, making the loss even more shocking and heartbreaking for the family.
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