Was Nijjar killed in a faction feud? Canada suspected so, testifies Trudeau’s former NSA

Amid the escalating India-Canada row, Canadian former national security adviser (NSA) Jody Thomas revealed that initial intelligence and police investigation into the Khalistani terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar assassination in 2023 suggested that the murder was in retaliation for the killing of Ripudaman Singh Malik, accused in the 1985 Air India Kanishka bombing.

Thomas was Canada’s NSA when Nijjar was shot dead in Surrey last year. On Thursday, she testified before Canada’s foreign interference inquiry where she also claimed that certain members of the Canadian Sikh community were dissatisfied with the assessment that Nijjar’s murder was tit-for-tat for Malik’s death.  

“It (Nijjar’s killing) was the second high-profile murder in the same gurdwara,” Thomas said, adding, “Mr. Malik’s murder had occurred almost exactly the year before. The immediate intelligence and police response hypothesis was that it was a retaliation. But the community was raising concern."

She went on to say that as the investigation progressed, additional intelligence, however, suggested that Nijjar’s assassination might have been an extra-judicial killing.  

“Through very good intelligence and policing work, we learnt that there was a high probability that this was an extra-judicial killing,” she said.  

Thomas’s testimony coincided with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s appearance before the same commission, where he accused India of violating Canada’s sovereignty.  

The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has been repeatedly denying the claims by Trudeau and his government and has persistently been asking for evidence to substantiate the allegations, but Canada has not provided any proof yet.  

Also, India has repeatedly criticised the Canadian government headed by Trudeau for its perceived leniency towards Khalistan supporters in the country.  

Tensions between India and Canada touched a new low last year after Trudeau’s explosive claim in the Canadian parliament that Indian government agents were involved in Nijjar’s killing, which New Delhi dismissed as “absurd” and “motivated."

The rift between the two nations widened after Canada, on Monday, named India’s envoy to Ottawa, Sanjay Kumar Verma, among the “persons of interest” in the investigation into Nijjar’s killing.  

New Delhi characterised the fresh allegations as “preposterous” and a “strategy of smearing India for political gains."  

Who was Ripudaman Singh Malik?

Ripudaman Singh Malik was a Sikh activist acquitted in the 1985 Air India Kanishka bombing. He was shot dead in Surrey on July 15, 2022.  

His death followed a public smear campaign by Nijjar, the leader of the Khalistan Tiger Force, who labelled Malik a traitor and called for his social boycott.

A report by India Today quoted sources earlier as saying that Malik’s death was part of a broader conspiracy involving pro-separatist forces, potentially supported by Pakistan’s ISI, with Nijjar’s involvement remaining a possibility.

With inputs from agencies.