 "A banner with the image of Khalistani leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar is seen at the Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara, site of his June 2023 killing, in Surrey, British Columbia, Canada, on September 20, 2023. (Representative Photo, Credit: Chris Helgren/Reuters)")
British intelligence agency GCHQ tipped Canada about the alleged link of the Indian government in the killing of pro-Khalistani terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar, which eventually rocked the New Delhi-Ottawa ties. A Bloomberg documentary on the murder case of Nijjar in British Columbia revealed that it was the UK spy agency that handed a dossier of intercepted communications that implicated ‘high-level Indian officials’ in the case.
However, it is pertinent to note that India has denied the allegations made public by former Prime Minister of Canada Justin Trudeau , calling it “absurd”. The video documentary by “Bloomberg Originals”, titled “Inside the Deaths That Rocked India’s Relations With the West”, claimed that the Cheltenham-based intelligence agency intercepted a conversation of individuals discussing three “potential targets”.
The three men on the alleged radar were: Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Canada, Avtar Singh Khanda in Britain and Gurpatwant Singh Pannun in the US. The documentary went on to claim that analysts believe the individuals having these conversations were “working on behalf of the Indian government”.
The Nijjar row reignited?
Singh, who was designated as a terrorist by India, was shot dead in June 2023 in Surrey. The documentary states that when the allegation that Nijjar’s killing was “politically motivated” started to circulate, then Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau’s advisers asked security agencies to undertake a fresh assessment of that crime.
The efforts started in 2023. Eventually, the UK and one of Canada’s Five Eyes partners told Ottawa that it had obtained “some relevant information” which was “extremely sensitive”. According to the Bloomberg documentary, the British spy agency said its intelligence would only be shared if it was hand-delivered to Ottawa, kept off electronic systems, and only a handful of Canadian officials, pre-approved by London, could see it.
The file comprised a summary of conversations intercepted by GCHQ between individuals who discussed three potential targets. “Later, there was an exchange about how Nijjar had been successfully eliminated,” the documentary claimed.
Impact Shorts
More Shorts“The document didn’t name the people whose conversations had been tapped or Nijjar’s assassins, but the implication was clear to the analysts: There was a strong chance he’d been murdered in an operation directed by the Indian state,” Bloomberg alleged in a written feature accompanying the video, titled: “Finish him, brother”.
After obtaining the information, Trudeau’s then national security and intelligence adviser, Jody Thomas, arranged to brief the former Canadian PM and a few close advisers in a secure conference room. A few days later, the Canadian intelligence received another British wiretap capturing a conversation referring to how Nijjar had been successfully eliminated, the Bloomberg feature claims. India is yet to react to the Bloomberg documentary, but it has maintained innocence in the case from day one.
The documentary is coming at a time when India-Canada relations have seen major improvement, with both nations exchanging diplomats again. Under Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney , New Delhi and Ottawa have been rebuilding ties with a focus on trade. Hence, a documentary like this has the potential to reignite tensions between the two sides.