What caused the detention of Sikh separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Canada?
According to a person with direct knowledge of the situation, three people were accused by Canadian authorities on Friday in connection with the June 2023 murder of Sikh separatist leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar in British Columbia.
The chronology of significant events that preceded the arrests in a homicide that has strained ties between India and Canada is shown below.
June 18, 2023: In Surrey, a suburb of Vancouver with a sizable Sikh community, Nijjar, 45, is shot and dies outside a Sikh temple. He was a Canadian citizen who advocated for the partition of India into an independent Sikh country.
1 September 2023: A Canadian trade official reports that Canada unexpectedly put a halt to negotiations on a prospective trade agreement with India, just three months after both nations announced their intention to finalize an initial agreement this year.
On September 10, 2023, while attending the G20 meeting in New Delhi, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed grave worries to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau over Sikh separatist demonstrations in Canada.
On September 18, 2023, Trudeau informs the legislature that Canada is “actively pursuing credible allegations” that implicated agents of the Indian government in Nijjar’s death.
September 19, 2023: Trudeau’s claim is deemed “absurd” by India. In a tit-for-tat exchange, each nation expels a diplomat; Canada did so with India’s senior intelligence official in the nation, while India did the same with his Canadian counterpart.
September 22, 2023: India requests that Ottawa scale up its diplomatic mission in India and stop awarding new visas to Canadians. After two months, India started to grant visas again.
On October 29, 2023, thousands of Sikhs voted in an unofficial referendum on the establishment of an independent Sikh state in Surrey, British Columbia, in the same gurdwara where Nijjar was murdered.
Nov. 21, 2024: A complaint is filed by India’s anti-terror agency against Sikh separatist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, claiming that he sent social media video messages informing Air India passengers that their lives were in jeopardy.
Nov. 22, 2024: According to a top Biden administration official, American officials foiled a plan to assassinate Pannun in the country and alerted India to possible involvement by the New Delhi government.
In an interview with Canada’s Globe & Mail newspaper on February 5, 2024, India’s High Commissioner declared that India would not provide Canadian investigators with any information on the murder of Nijjar unless Canada offered proof.
April 30, 2024: A Washington Post article claiming that an Indian intelligence agency official was personally engaged in both the assassination of Nijjar and the abortive attempt to assassinate Pannun in the United States is deemed a significant concern by the White House.
The study, according to India, included “unwarranted and unsubstantiated imputations.”
