‘Any involvement of a international authorities within the killing of a Canadian citizen on Canadian soil is an unacceptable violation of our sovereignty,’ Trudeau stated
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Prime Minister Justin Trudeau stated Monday that there’s credible proof that brokers of the Indian authorities have been behind the homicide of a Canadian citizen in June.
On June 18, Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a Sikh chief in Surrey, B.C., was gunned down as he left his gurdwara.
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The Royal Canadian Mounted Police’s Built-in Murder Investigation Group stated that two heavy-set suspects are believed to have shot Nijjar, earlier than fleeing to a getaway automobile pushed by a 3rd suspect.
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The suspects are nonetheless at massive.
“Any involvement of a international authorities within the killing of a Canadian citizen on Canadian soil is an unacceptable violation of our sovereignty,” Trudeau stated in an announcement to the Home of Commons.
Right here’s the whole lot we find out about Nijjar and the killing.
Who was Hardeep Singh Nijjar?
Nijjar served because the president of the Sikh temple the place he was killed. He additionally labored as a plumber, in keeping with World Information.
He got here to Canada in 1997, World reported, and claimed refugee standing, having used a false passport to enter the nation.
His refugee declare was rejected, however 11 days after that, he married a girl who sponsored him for immigration. That, too, was rejected, though Nijjar known as himself a Canadian citizen, and Trudeau referred to him as such within the Home of Commons on Monday.
Nijjar was a distinguished organizer in the neighborhood of Sikhs in Canada who’ve been calling for a referendum on Khalistan, which goals to carve out a Sikh ethno-religious state in India’s Punjab area. He had been organizing an unofficial referendum among the many Sikh diaspora in Surrey.
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“Hardeep Singh Nijjar was a task mannequin, distinguished character in the neighborhood and for the advocacy of a separate Sikh state of Khalistan by means of a democratic strategy of referendum,” stated Jatinder Singh Grewal, an organizer with Sikhs for Justice. “He was a pillar in our group.”
Grewal stated the Indian authorities had labelled Nijjar a terrorist, and sought to have him extradited to India.
What did India accuse Nijjar of?
Again in 2016, Indian authorities alleged he was linked to a 2007 bombing in Punjab.
“That is rubbish — all of the allegations. I’m residing right here 20 years, proper? Have a look at my document. There’s nothing. I’m a tough employee. I personal my very own enterprise within the plumbing,” Nijjar advised Vancouver Solar on the time.
India’s Central Bureau of Investigation issued a warrant for Nijjar, citing costs of trying to trigger an explosion, making or protecting explosives with intent to hazard life or property, and making or possessing explosives beneath suspicious circumstances.
An Interpol discover was additionally issued for Nijjar. He was accused of being the chief of the Khalistan Terror Drive, and a report within the Occasions of India claimed he was operating coaching camps close to Mission, B.C., to coach sympathizers to hold out terror assaults in India.
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Nijjar denied all of this. He wrote to Trudeau on the time, saying he was a peaceable activist, and urging him to “dispel the Indian authorities’s fabricated, baseless, fictitious and politically motivated allegations in opposition to me.”
Indian information stories additionally tried to hyperlink Nijjar to the 2022 killing of Ripudaman Singh Malik, a group chief in Surrey and acquitted Air India bombing suspect.
What is understood about Nijjar’s homicide?
Not very a lot. He was killed in June 2023. His lawyer, Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, advised Vancouver Solar he had been advised just lately by CSIS that there have been threats in opposition to his consumer’s life.
“He wasn’t apprehensive about his security. He was apprehensive about how we’d accomplish Khalistan and the way we’d accomplish the referendum,” Pannun stated.
Nijjar was fatally shot in his truck within the temple car parking zone.
“Like many individuals in Surrey and lots of British Columbians, I’m profoundly disturbed that anyone was murdered in our group on the grounds of a spot of worship in entrance of many witnesses,” stated B.C. Premier David Eby on the time.
Virtually instantly after the homicide, hypothesis started to floor that Nijjar had been killed by the Indian authorities. Police cautioned in opposition to this, saying they have been following the proof.
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But, on Monday, Trudeau stated that Canada now has credible data that India was concerned within the homicide. He stated he introduced this to the eye of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi when he was in India final week for a G20 assembly.
Nationwide Publish, with extra reporting from Vancouver Solar
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Trudeau says Indian authorities linked to homicide of Sikh chief in B.C.
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Surrey, B.C., temple chief gunned down in his automobile Sunday night time
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