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New Delhi: Relations between India and Canada nosedived after Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau alleged involvement of the Indian government in the killing of Khalistan activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar in June this year. The accusation has triggered a diplomatic standoff between the two countries, with India and Canada expelling each other’s diplomats, and New Delhi asking Ottawa to reduce its diplomatic staff at the Canadian High Commission here.
Who Was Hardeep Singh Nijjar, The Man At The Centre Of Tensions Between India And Canada?
Hardeep Singh Nijjar was a resident of Bhar Singh Pura village in Punjab’s Jalandhar. Since his early days, he had connections with local goons. According to intel sources, he entered the gangster world through one Gurnek Singh alias Neka. In the 1980s and 90s, he became associated with the Khalistan Commando Force (KCF) through Gurdeep Singh, alias Deepa Heranwala. Heranwala was a KCF militant who was involved in more than 200 killings in Punjab during late 1980s and early 1990s, the sources said.
After his name cropped up in several terrorism cases, Nijjar escaped to Canada in 1997 on a forged passport under the alias ‘Ravi Sharma’. He initially applied for asylum in Canada by claiming that he feared persecution in India because he belonged to “a particular social group, namely, individuals associated with Sikh militancy”, a source in the intelligence department told ABP Live.
However, his asylum was rejected on the grounds of fabricated narrative. Eleven days after his claim was rejected, he entered into a “marriage agreement” with a woman who sponsored his immigration, the source said.
This application was also rejected by immigration officials as the woman arrived in Canada in 1997 on a sponsorship by another man. Nijjar appealed against his asylum rejection in courts of Canada. He was later granted Canadian citizenship whose circumstances are not clear.
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How Nijjar Built An Ecosystem Of Terror In Punjab From Canada
Initially, Nijjar maintained a low profile as a truck driver in Canada. In April 2012, Nijjar visited Pakistan in the garb of a Baisakhi jatha member and came in touch with Khalistan Tiger Force (KTF) chief Jagtar Singh Tara. Tara imparted arms and IED training to Nijjar for a fortnight. In 2013, Tara sent US-based Harjot Singh Birring to Canada to impart training to Nijjar in operating hand-held GPS devices.
Nijjar then started indulging in illegal activities like drug smuggling and extortion in Canada to arrange funding for terrorist activities. He also sent Rs 1 million in Pakistani currency to Jagtar Singh Tara.
He soon raised his own gang in Canada that included Mandeep Singh Dhaliwal, Sarbjit Singh, Anupveer Singh and Darshan Singh alias Fauji. They were imparted arms training in British Columbia, Canada.
In 2014, Nijjar planned with Jagtar Singh Tara to execute a terror attack on Dera Sacha Sauda headquarters in Haryana’s Sirsa. However, it did not materialise because Nijjar was denied an Indian visa, the intelligence department official said.
With the plan not coming to fruition, Nijjar directed his module to target former DGP Mohd Izhar Alam, Punjab-based Shiv Sena leader Nishant Sharma and Baba Mann Singh Pehowa Wale.
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After the deportation of Jagtar Singh Tara to India in 2015, Nijjar assumed the role of ‘operation chief’ of KTF, the source said.
However, all these activities of Nijjar were being closely watched by the NIA, which registered several cases against him. A Red Corner Notice (RCN) was also issued against him in 2014 by Interpol.
Nijjar was also associated with Sikhs For Justice, a banned terrorist organisation, as the head of its Canada chapter. He had also organised violent anti-India protests in Canada and threatened Indian diplomats. He had also given a call to ban Indian Embassy officials from participating in various programmes organised by local gurdwaras in Canada.
However, in between, he also worked with Punjab-based gangster Arshdeep Singh Gill, alias Arsh Dala, of Punjab’s Moga to carry out terror activities in Punjab. He tasked Arshdeep to carry out the murder of father-son duo Manohar Lal Arora and Jatinderbir Singh Arora, who became popular for their anti-Panthic activities in 2020. In the attack, Manohar Lal was shot dead at his residence in Bathinda on November 20, 2020, but his son escaped. Nijjar had sent money from Canada for their murder.
In 2021, Nijjar tasked Arshdeep to murder the priest of Bhar Singh Pura village (Nijjar’s native place). However, the priest survived. This is how Nijjar built an “ecosystem of terror“ in Punjab from behind the scenes in Canada, the source quoted above told ABP Live.
To protect himself from RCN and prevent his extradition, Nijjar ventured into gurdwara politics in Canada. He “forcefully” became the president of Surrey gurdwara in 2021 after fighting and threatening his cousin, Raghbir Singh Nijjar, who was the former president, the source said. Nijjar was shot dead outside the gurdwara in June this year.
Nijjar had over a dozen cases of murder and other terrorist activities registered against him in India. The details of cases were shared with Canadian authorities but no action was taken. Despite RCN, Canadian authorities did not take any action except putting him on a no-fly list.
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