What did India's intel reveal about Khalistani Hardeep Singh Nijjar?

Ottawa has yet to present solid proof that New Delhi was responsible for the assassination of Khalistan Tiger Force chief Hardeep Singh Nijjar. However, Canadian intelligence endorses the idea that he was a sincere and pious leader of the Guru Nanak Gurudwara in Canada’s Surrey. In the midst of this growing tension between the two nations, Indian authorities have argued that the alleged Khalistani terrorist lied about his background to acquire Canadian citizenship and operated a terrorist network from the nation he chose to call home. Let’s take a closer look. Also read: How the pro-Khalistan sentiment has grown in Canada Fake marriage According to News18, a dossier on Nijjar created by Indian agencies, the Khalistan Tiger Force member fled to Canada in 1996 after police began questioning him about possible connections to local goons in Punjab and affiliations with other criminal organisations. The record states that Hardeep Singh Nijjar was a former partner of Gurdeep Singh, also known as Deepa Heranwala, a KCF (Khalistan Commando Force) militant who was responsible for more than 200 murders in Punjab during the late 1980s and early 1990s. “Hardeep Singh Nijjar was a resident of village Bhar Singh Pura, Jalandhar, Punjab. Since his early days, he had connections with local goons. He was initiated to gangster life by Gurnek Singh aka Neka." [caption id=“attachment_13159972” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] Nijjar was killed in a Gurudwara parking lot in British Columbia on 18 June this year. PTI[/caption] Nijjar, according to Indian sources, lived a quiet life as a truck driver for the first few years of his stay in Canada. He engaged in criminal activity, such as the smuggling of drugs and extortion, to secure funding for terrorist activities. News agency PTI cited sources as saying that he had requested asylum in Canada, stating that he feared being persecuted in India because he belonged to “a particular social group.” But Nijjar’s application for refuge was denied due to a fabricated narrative. In 1996, Nijjar travelled to Canada with a fake passport and the identity of Ravi Sharma. After being denied asylum, only 11 days after his initial claim was denied, Nijjar signed a “marriage” contract with a woman who sponsored his immigration. Canada also rejected this marriage arrangement because the woman had entered the country in 1997 on a different husband’s sponsorship. The report said, “Nijjar appealed against the rejection in courts of Canada although he kept claiming himself to be a citizen of Canada. He was later granted Canadian citizenship, the circumstances of which are not clear.” Also read: How India-Canada ties turned rocky under Justin’s father, Pierre Trudeau Gurudwara politics He allegedly “forcefully” became the president of the Surrey, British Columbia, gurudwara in 2021 in order to evade Interpol and avoid being extradited, according to NDTV. He purportedly threatened his own cousin, the former president of the Sikh temple, Raghbir Singh Nijjar, according to the dossier. This threat allowed him to take control of the Sikh temple.

Interpol Red Corner notice Hindustan Times quoted the dossier as stating that Nijjar later got in touch with Pakistan-based KTF Chief Jagtar Singh Tara and travelled there in April 2012 while pretending to be a member of the Baisakhi jatha. He was influenced by Tara and nurtured by Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), with the former providing him with training in explosives and firearms in 2012 and 2013. The dossier even asserts that Tara sent US-based Harjot Singh Birring to Canada in 2013 to instruct Nijjar in the use of a handheld GPS device. Nijjar also sent Tara one million Pakistani rupees, as per News18. On Tara’s orders, Nijjar planned to carry out a terrorist attack in 2014 against the Sirsa, Haryana, headquarters of Dera Sacha Sauda. It never happened, though, because Nijjar was turned down for an Indian visa, reported Indian Express. [caption id=“attachment_13155472” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] Khalistan flags fly high at the Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara Sahib in Surrey, British Columbia. This is the same shrine where Hardeep Singh Nijjar was gunned down in June. Canada has seen a rise in Khalistan activities in recent times. AP[/caption] Nijjar became the KTF’s operations chief in 2015 following Jagtar Singh Tara’s deportation from Thailand to India. The dossier states that by that time, he was the subject of an Interpol Red Corner notice. In India, Nijjar was charged with more than a dozen murders and other terrorist charges. New Delhi shared information about the cases with the Canadian authorities, but nothing was done. Even after the Red Corner Notice, the Canadian government just added Nijjar to a no-fly list and took no more action, as per News18. Also read: How Justin Trudeau’s anti-India antics have angered Canadians Terror activities in Canada and India Nijjar was actively involved in spotting, networking, training, funding, and operationalising KTF module members after taking over the leadership of KTF in Canada in 2015, according to Livemint which cited the dossier that details his activities. The dossier claims that in 2014, Nijjar gave money to another Canadian-based Sikh radical, Surjit Singh Kohli, who then gave it to the former terrorist of the Babbar Khalsa International, Parminder Singh aka Kala, to buy a weapon to kill Shiv Sena leader Sanjeev Ghanouli and Baba Piara Singh Bhaniarwala, claiming that both were anti-Panthic. Nijjar set up an armed training camp in December 2015 in Mission Hills, British Columbia, Canada, to instruct Mandeep Singh Dhaliwal, Sarbjit Singh, Anupveer Singh, and Darshan Singh nicknamed Fauji in the use of AK-47 assault rifles, sniper rifles, and pistols. He sent Dhaliwal to Punjab in January 2016 with the intention of killing Shiv Sena leaders and inciting communal unrest there, but the terrorist was apprehended by Punjab Police in June of the same year. According to the dossier, Nijjar and gangster-turned-terrorist Arshdeep Singh Dala trained a module of four KTF members who carried out the targeted assassinations and abductions in 2020 and 2021. Following their detention, three members of the module revealed Nijjar and Dala’s identities. “He tasked Arshdeep to carry out the double murder of Manohar Lal Arora and Jatinderbir Singh Arora, father-son duo, famous for their anti-Panthic activities in 2020. In the attack, Manohar Lal was shot dead at his residence in Bathinda on Nov 20, 2020 but his son escaped. Nijjar had sent money from Canada for their murder," says the dossier. Kanwarpal Singh, Kulwinder Singh, and Kamalpreet Singh, three KTF members from Moga, were part of a plot to assassinate SSP Moga Harmanbir Singh Gill and two inspectors of the criminal investigating agency in the Moga district in September 2021 on orders from Nijjar and Dala. Nijjar allegedly gave Arshdeep the order to kill the priest of Nijjar’s home town of Bhar Singh Pura in 2021. “However, the priest survived," the dossier says. According to the dossier, on 19 February 2022, Haryana Police detained three members of a group responsible for contract killings in Punjab at the request of KTF and the International Sikh Youth Federation (ISYF), reported Hindustan Times. Nijjar was also connected with Sikhs For Justice, another banned terrorist organisation, as the head of its Canada chapter. An official informed NDTV that Nijjar was responsible for multiple violent anti-India protests in Canada and had publicly threatened Indian diplomats. Additionally, he had ordered that Canadian gurudwaras stop hosting events that included representatives of the Indian embassy there. According to the dossier, despite the fact that Nijjar was named a terrorist by the Home Ministry on 1 July 2020, and the National Investigation Agency issued a financial award of Rs. 10 lakh against him on 22 July 2022, the KTF leader continued to operate freely in Canada. [caption id=“attachment_12759502” align=“alignnone” width=“558”] In 2022, the NIA declared a reward of Rs 10 lakh on Nijjar. Image courtesy: NIA[/caption] According to those acquainted with the situation, India attempted to persuade Ottawa to take action against him. There were ten First Information Reports (FIRs) filed against Nijjar in India, and New Delhi sought to pursue the cases. Also read: India-Canada row: Is Pakistan’s ISI funding Khalistani groups? India-Canada on Nijjar’s killing Nijjar was killed in a Gurudwara parking lot in British Columbia on 18 June this year. There was credible evidence suggesting Indian government agents may have been involved in the assassination of Nijjar, according to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau . He said, “We are there to work constructively with India. We hope that they engage with us so that we can get to the bottom of this very serious matter.” Earlier this week, Trudeau claimed to have credible intelligence connecting Indian government officials to the crime. New Delhi vehemently denied the claim. He added that some of the information came from an unnamed Five Eyes ally and that it contained communications from Indian officials who were present in Canada.

The US, UK, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand are part of the Five Eyes intelligence-sharing network. India asked for proof to back up Ottawa’s assertions in public, but Trudeau hasn’t given any information on the information Canada’s intelligence services have gathered. As a result, there has been an escalating diplomatic crisis, which has seen diplomats from both nations return home and India stop visa services in Canada and label it as a haven for terrorists. According to Livemint, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken stated that the US wanted “accountability” for the assassination. “We are deeply concerned about the allegations that PM Trudeau has raised,” Blinken told reporters in a press briefing. Similar concerns have been voiced by the White House, although Blinken is now the highest-ranking American official to speak on the subject. “We have been consulting throughout very closely with our Canadian colleagues, not just consulting but coordinating with them on this issue,” Blinken said. “It would be important that India work with the Canadians on this investigation. We want to see accountability,” he added. With inputs from agencies Also read: Why Justin Trudeau has been ‘soft’ on Khalistani extremists in Canada