Front Burner - Did India kill a Canadian Sikh leader in B.C.?

Episode Date: September 21, 2023

Hardeep Singh Nijjar was shot and killed outside his gurdwara in Surrey in June just after evening prayers. While the Sikh community has been urging investigators to get the bottom of what happened, it’s been quiet until a bombshell announcement from Prime Minister Trudeau on Monday: Canada believes there are “credible allegations” the Indian government was behind it. Since then it’s been a diplomatic firestorm. Diplomats are being pulled from both Canada and India and Canada’s allies are weighing next moves. But who was Hardeep Singh Nijjar and why do some, particularly members of the Sikh community, believe the Indian government wanted him dead? Jaskaran Sandhu from Baaz News and the World Sikh Organization takes us through who Nijjar was, the reasons he feared for his life and the long-standing tensions between India and the Sikh community. For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

In the Dragon's Den, a simple pitch can lead to a life-changing connection. Watch new episodes of Dragon's Den free on CBC Gem. Brought to you in part by National Angel Capital Organization, empowering Canada's entrepreneurs through angel investment and industry connections. This is a CBC Podcast. Hi, I'm Tamara Kandaker. On Monday, Balraj Nidger, son of prominent Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nidger, spoke publicly for the first time about the murder of his father. He was speaking in the parking lot of the Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara in Surrey, B.C, where his dad was gunned down just three months ago.

Behind him, members of the temple gathered for a memorial. It was just a matter of time for when the truth would come out. So when we heard that news today, it was a sense of relief that, you know, it's finally coming to the public eyes that, you know, the Indian government is involved in this. It's not like a dispute within the community, but it's a really serious foreign interference case. The news Balraj is referring to is, of course, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's bombshell accusation that Canada has credible intelligence linking agents of the Indian government to his father's killing. Canada is a rule of law country. The protection of our citizens and defense of our sovereignty are fundamental.

Our top priorities have therefore been, one, that our law enforcement and security agencies ensure the continued safety of all Canadians, and two, that all steps be taken to hold perpetrators of this murder to account. Balraj says he's grateful for the attention that Trudeau's government and opposition parties are giving to his father's case. Hopefully you can take this a step further and get specific individuals, maybe place sanctions, whatever the next steps are. You know, we're waiting as a family to see what it is. This is just step one in the family's eyes and the community that, you know, we now... There are still a lot of unanswered questions about the evidence that led Trudeau to make these allegations, which Indian government officials are calling absurd and unsubstantiated. Today, who was Hardeep Singh Nidger? Why did someone, maybe the Indian state,

want him dead? And why did so many in the Sikh community suspect Indian government involvement all along? I'm joined by Jasgran Sandhu. He's a co-founder of Baz News, an online outlet for the Sikh and Punjabi diaspora, and a board member of the World Sikh Organization. Hi, Jaskaran. Thank you so much for being here. Thank you for having me. be getting some pretty conflicting descriptions. So many in the Sikh community say that he was a leader and an activist, while the Indian government says he was a terrorist. So who was Hardeep Singh Nijar and what did he believe in? So Mr. Nijar was a president of a prominent Gurdwara in Surrey. Gurdwara is a place of worship for the Sikhs. And he was also someone that was

very active in activist circles. You know, he spoke often on human rights issues, grievances with the Indian state from the Sikh community, and also on Khalistan, which is the Sikh self-determination or sovereignty movement. And so he was very well known amongst Sikh circles. And he was also someone that was recently part of organizing the Khalistan referendum. And the Khalistan referendum is a non-binding vote that's been happening across the world in the Sikh diaspora, including Australia, the UK, Canada, United States, just as an example. And this non-binding vote is set up to examine the level of interest within the Sikh community on the issue and concept of Khalistan. Right. And what does the Indian government accuse him of? Why did they say that he was a terrorist? And so the Indian government accused him of organizing hits in India, of leading or being the front man of a Khalistan organization, of, you know, organizing training camps in British Columbia. No evidence has ever been given. And so the Indian government has thrown a lot of different labels at Hardeep Singh Nijar. And a lot

of these labels are also thrown at others that also advocate or organize around similar issues from the Sikh community. Right. Okay. So based on what you said, his activism was peaceful. Sikh community. Right. Okay. So based on what you said, his activism was peaceful. He was part of organizing this referendum. Did he ever advocate for any kind of violence for the Khalistani cause? No. Ardip Singh Nidra was committed to the concept around this referendum. I think he truly believed that the ballot box is where the cause of Khalistan can be won. And he was very passionate about that cause. As far as violence goes, you know, there was never anything to pin him to any sort of violence that the Indian government was claiming. And that's what makes kind of all this really absurd and tragic. Yeah. and I want to get into why you think this is absurd,

but it's now been three months since he was gunned down outside this gurdwara in Surrey. It happened right after evening prayers, and the investigation is ongoing. But at this point, what do we know about his murder? You know, he was gunned outside the gurdwara while sitting in his car, and he died tragically. Nijer was gunned down outside his gurdwara in June. Violence CSIS had reportedly warned him about. In the three months since his killing, six separatists say the RCMP has been in touch. You know, Hardeep Singh was,ep Singh was pretty open about it. He went on Punjabi radio, for example, to talk about the threats on his life.

He spoke about it within the community. Everyone knew that he was facing deep threats. And I think what frustrated the Sikh community, especially in June after he was murdered, was where was Canada? Where was our security agencies? How could they allow this to happen, especially when they knew it was coming? Right. Yeah, I know his son has said that leading up to his death, he had been meeting with CSIS agents pretty much on a weekly basis. So at this point, you haven't heard anything about whether or not he was getting protection, right?

Or there's no evidence that he was getting any kind of protection from Canada. protection, right? Or there's no evidence that he was getting any kind of protection from Canada? No, nothing that we can say with confidence. You know, it's kind of, it does really feel like they kind of left him to dry. And the amount of security or surveillance that should have been provided to him, you know, wasn't. Why did Najir not have police protection? Minister of Public Safety Dominic Leblanc said that is not federal jurisdiction. The individual decisions by law enforcement agencies around who receives police protection are made by police officials, not by ministers. Now, that didn't change the way Hardeep Singh Niger behaved, though.

And I want to make that very clear. You know, he was He was still very active. He was still speaking unapologetically about Sikh causes. He was still attending protests. He was still organizing the Khalistan referendum in Surrey. So the manner in which he operated didn't change. And so that is seen as a heroic thing. He is seen in the Sikh community as a Shaheed, which means a martyr, which is a title that's held in very high esteem in the Sikh faith.

So, you know, but as far as protection goes from the state, you know, a lot of Sikhs do feel that Canada failed at providing Hardeep Singh Nijar everything he could. So he was killed mid-June. There was suspicion in the community at the time that the Indian government was behind it. A lot of people believe that Mr. Nijjar was specifically targeted, and he was deliberately targeted inside the Gurdwara. I also believe so. It was obviously a big shock, but right away, we knew who the suspects were.

Obviously, the outside community that aren't as involved in the Khalistan movement or coming to the Gurdwara and meeting my dad in person would not potentially have that knowledge. But for that person who did know him, they knew it was the Indian government. It was just a matter of time for when the truth would come out. He had obviously gone public to talk about these threats. I know there were protests at Indian consulates around the world, but we hadn't heard much about it since then.

But fast forward to earlier this month, we start to see some signs of tension between Canada and India. So Canada calls for a pause in trade talks. India hosts the G20, where there's clearly some tension between Trudeau and Modi. Modi today pushed Trudeau to rein in six separatists in Canada. And Trudeau says he pushed back on Indian interference in Canada. Then Canada postpones an October trade mission to India. And three days later, Trudeau announces these allegations about Nijar's murder in the House of Commons, which he apparently confronted

Modi about at the G20, which may explain some of that tension. What exactly is India being accused of here? Over the past number of weeks, Canadian security agencies have been actively pursuing credible allegations of a potential link between agents of the government of India and the killing of a Canadian citizen, Hardeep Singh Nijjar.

Any involvement of a foreign government in the killing of a Canadian citizen on Canadian soil is an unacceptable violation of our sovereignty. Canada is investigating further. And, you know, my understanding, there's quite a bit of the pipeline that's going to be coming out here. And so that's what's being leveled against the Indian government. And that's something the community believes is absolutely true and would have believed it even if it wasn't put on the official record.

I think what's impressed the Sikh community quite a bit in the last 48 hours is how strong the government has been on it and how unwavering they've been on it since making the announcement, considering the pushback from India. Right. Yeah. But I guess to be clear, the allegations are coming from what the government is saying is credible intelligence, but they haven't said publicly what the intelligence is, right? Have the RCMP, who are the ones leading the investigation into the killing, or CSIS, detailed what any of the evidence is here? No, we haven't seen anything like that yet. The Indian government totally denies all responsibility. What have they said in response to these allegations? They're denying it outright. And what they're claiming is happening is Trudeau playing what they call vote bank politics. And that's a term India uses often when talking about Trudeau and the Canadian government's persistence in arguing that Sikhs practicing charter rights is not illegal, is not terrorism. You know, the Indian government is also saying that, you know, there is no

evidence, there's no proof, there's nothing to respond to. And that's the position they've had over the last day or two. And, you know, we've also seen, you know, other kind of tit for tat measures taken by India, you know, they expelled a diplomat for anti-India activities in response to Canada, expelling a high ranking diplomat from the High Commission in Ottawa for being involved with RAW, which is India's Central Intelligence Agency. And India also released a travel advisory, Agency and India also released a travel advisory telling Indian nationals and Indian international students which is a huge cohort of the student body in Canadian schools that there's a travel advisory within Canada because of anti-India activities. In the Dragon's Den, a simple pitch can lead to a life-changing connection. Watch new episodes of Dragon's Den free on CBC Gem.

Brought to you in part by National Angel Capital Organization. Empowering Canada's entrepreneurs through angel investment and industry connections. Hi, it's Ramit Sethi here. You may have seen my money show on Netflix. I've been talking about money for 20 years. I've talked to millions of people, and I have some startling numbers to share with you. Did you know that of the people I speak to, 50% of them do not know their own household income. That's not a typo.

50%. That's because money is confusing. In my new book and podcast, Money for Couples, I help you and your partner create a financial vision together. To listen to this podcast, just search for Money for Couples. So India has accused Canada for a long time of harboring terrorists. For people who don't know anything about this, can you just explain sort of what they're talking about exactly? Yeah, you know, if you look at the Sikh community in Canada, it's close to a million.

It's one of the largest minority groups in Canada. It's one of the largest minority groups in Canada. It makes up over 2% of Canada's population, which in relation to India as proportion is actually higher in Canada, which I think would surprise a lot of folks. And the Sikh diaspora in Canada is larger than it is anywhere else in the world. And so the Sikh community here, you know, is pretty fearless in its advocacy on various issues, which India does not like. And that includes advocacy on human rights issues. That includes advocacy against the BJP Hindu nationalist government.

You know, there's a movement calleduwatwa, which is Hindu nationalism, which comes at the cost of India's various minority communities, but primarily Christians, Muslims, and Sikhs, as well as the Dalit community. Sikhs are very loud in expressing their grievances with the Indian state, especially stemming from the 1984 Sikh genocide, which, you know, where justice is still outstanding, 30 plus years. But, you know, probably most prolific is India's issue with the advocacy for Khalistan out of the Sikh Canadian community. You know, India treats any advocacy about Khalistan, even peaceful, as an act of terror or extremism, which is, again, in the Sikh community's eyes, absurd. Any democratic country would allow for free expression and international law protects the rights to self-determination.

But India has always raised these concerns with Canadian officials during bilateral meetings. And Canada has been pretty consistent, irrespective of the government in power, whether it was Harper's Conservatives or Trudeau's Liberals, in that we can't just arbitrarily or extrajudicially crack down on six. Now, that is the norm in India. That is how India treats, especially minority communities. But that is not the way Canada treats political free speech. So since Trudeau made these allegations, Canada has expelled an Indian diplomat. You mentioned

India expelled the top Canadian diplomat. They've shelved a trade mission. So things are really ramping up. And Trudeau has said that he's not looking to provoke or escalate tensions with India, but the fact is saying there is credible evidence that India committed an extrajudicial, extraterritorial killing of a Canadian citizen, that's really big. So what have we heard from Canada's allies? So we've had statements from the UK and Australia as well expressing concern with the allegations and calling on India to cooperate with any investigation. I think you've seen some caution from our partners, in particular in the UK and Australia, in that this is an ongoing investigation and they can't speak to it to any great extent,

especially because the intelligence involved is still confidential. especially because the intelligence involved is still confidential. The loudest response has been from the Americans who have just today released further statements to make it very clear in unequivocal terms that they are cooperating with Canada on this and they are taking it seriously. And so we've seen from our allies in America, you know, some recognition over the last few years of the problems with India, you know, for example, the State Department in America, which releases a report on, you know, human rights records around the world, is very critical of India, incredibly critical. And so I think there's a fine balancing act that's happening amongst some governments.

They recognize that India is obviously a huge market for trade. And there is some strategic considerations, seeing India as a bulwark of sorts against China. But a lot of that is starting to show cracks. So let's talk a bit about the Sikh community in Canada. So you talked about how this allegation from the Canadian government isn't surprising and that the community suspected that this was the case. So beyond the warnings that people close to Nijar say he received, why is that? Why was it not surprising for people here? You know, India has a long history of maligning and demonizing the Sikh Canadian community.

And we don't have to go that far back to think of examples. You know, during Trudeau's first trip to India, you know, the Sikh community was on the receiving end of a blunt hammer from the Indian state. We know of various reports of how Indian intelligence operates out of consulates to spy on and conduct espionage against the Sikh community. We know that our institutions have attracted Indian intelligence, have attracted Indian agents. There's agents that used to work in Canada that have put out books about their experience in Canada and how they're tasked with infiltrating gurdwaras and Sikh organizations. But I think they were pleasantly surprised and quite frankly impressed with how our government

has responded and has stood shoulder to shoulder with the Sikh community. Because for the longest time, the Sikh community has felt alone in fighting Indian interference in this country. And part of it, you know, part of that is generated a resentment of sort in our community. Now, are we not Canadians? Do the issues we face not trigger any kind of importance from our government and our intelligence agency, from our media, you know, from the general public? So to see the government come out as it has, and

to see what has been generally a very unified response from opposition and community stakeholders, I think the Sikh community feels for the first time that they're not alone in this fight. Yeah, people may have heard Jagmeet Singh's response to all this. He also said that he found the allegations shocking, but not surprising, death. I grew up hearing those stories. But to hear the Prime Minister of Canada corroborate a potential link between a murder of a Canadian citizen on Canadian soil by a foreign government is something I could never have imagined. It was actually really special watching Jagmeet Singh stand up and talk from lived experience, share a personal testimony.

Often we talk about representation in politics and we throw quotes around representation matters. We have to think deeper than that. And having Jagmeet Singh stand up and actually give a speech in Punjabi, speaking directly to the community, in Parliament. In Punjabi, I would like to say

that what we heard today, we all knew that the government of India was very cruel. It adds a layer to what has been already an unprecedented moment. But it's also worth mentioning, apparently, Nijar wasn't the only one

who was approached by law enforcement and warned that their life was at risk, right? There was also a friend of Najjar's, Moninder Singh, who said that he was approached by the RCMP. Yeah, it's true. Last year, you know, five of us in the Sikh community were approached by national security from the RCMP INSET Division.

We were warned that our lives were at risk of imminent assassination. I have minor children at home. I was told I had to leave my home. I couldn't be around my kids or family for safety reasons. kids or family for safety reasons. You know, in our understanding, Assisi's had a list of multiple names on it of folks facing threats and that, you know, there was conversation of hits being out on against them. So, you know, Hardeep Singh Nijar wasn't just an outlier of sorts. There's other folks that India has targeted or was planning to target. And the reality is for anyone advocating on sick issues, you're always told to kind of watch your

back. And that includes myself. Now, I haven't received any messages from CSIS or what have you of being under imminent threat of any sorts. But any advocate that kind of speaks on sick issues knows that the Indian government is watching them, knows that you're probably not going to be able to travel to India. Your visa is probably going to be denied. And even if you did go, probably not the smartest idea, because they have a history of arbitrarily picking up and arresting individuals. Yeah. And I'll just quickly mention before we move on, there were others outside of Canada around the same time that Hardeep Singh Nidra was killed too,

Avdhar Singh Kanda in the UK and Paramjeet Singh Panjwar in Pakistan. Again, the Sikh community believes they were also assassinated by the Indian state. And this kind of goes back to the point I made earlier about our five eye allies. And so the ramifications of what's happening in Canada, it's not just a Canada-India issue. It really is a global issue. And I think what worries India right now is how many layers are going to be peeled and how wide is the collateral going to be. Okay, Jasgrin, thank you so much

for walking us through this and for all your insight. I really appreciate it. Oh, thank you so much for having me. All right, that's all for today. I'm Tamara Kandaker. Thank you so much for listening and I will talk to you tomorrow.