New Delhi/Amritsar: Designated terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a known anti-India face who was head of pro-Khalistan outfits Khalistan Tiger Force and the Canadian arm of Sikhs For Justice (SFJ), was shot dead by unknown assailants at a parking lot of a gurdwara in Surrey, Canada, on Monday.
According to reports reaching here, two unidentified gunmen shot 46-year-old Nijjar, who was the president of Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara in Surrey, British Columbia. He had forcibly taken control of the shrine and turned it into a prominent centre of Khalistani activities. It was reported that Surrey Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), responding to a call, found an adult male inside a vehicle suffering from apparent gunshot wounds. They provided medical assistance until emergency health services arrived, but he could not be saved.
Nijjar is the second associate of SFJ chief Gurpatwant Singh Pannu and the third Khalistani terrorist to have died in the last 45 days. The killing of Nijjar, who was listed as “most wanted” by the NIA and the Punjab police but led a double life as president of the Surrey gurdwara, came days after the sudden death of SFJ’s UK arm chief Avtar Singh Khanda in a London hospital spawned many conspiracy theories.
Originally from Bhar Singh Pura village in Jalandhar, and a permanent resident of Canada for the past several years, Nijjar was an accused or chargesheeted accused in multiple terror cases including ones relating to SFJ’s 2020 Sikh Referendum campaign in Punjab; conspiracy to carry out targeted killings, including at RSS gatherings, a Hindu priest and temple staff in Punjab; and funding the procurement of arms and ammunition and training Sikh youths to give shape to terrorist activities in India.
Open letter sent to Sunak on the targeting of Sikh activists
Over 350 gurdwaras and Sikh organisations recently sent a follow-up open letter to UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak inquiring about the UK government's position on the extreme right-wing Indian authorities' targeting of Sikh activists abroad in the wake of the murder of Nijjar.
The leaders of Gurdwaras and Sikh organisations made arguments in the letter concerning the mounting evidence that British Sikh activists, members of other minorities, UK politicians, and others who oppose the radical Hindutva ideology are being routinely attacked and targeted in the UK.