Even though Khalistani figures accused India for the killing of Khalistan Tiger Force (KTF) chief Hardeep Singh Nijjar, the Canadian police did not consider India to be involved in the act, according to a report.
A close confidant of Nijjar told Hindustan Times that India was not mentioned when the Canadian law enforcement agencies listed potential threats to Nijjar’s life. The report said that, prior to his death, Nijjar had been advised to relocate and divert his routes to steer clear from getting targeted.
Nijjar was killed June 18 in Canada’s Surrey city in British Columbia. The report says he was warned quite a few times by the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) but India did not figure in those briefings.
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"India was not named as the source of the threat during agencies’ interaction with Nijjar, a proponent of Khalistan, who was very close to Nijjar, told the Hindustan Times, but asked not to be named," said the report.
However, Nijjar as well as pro-Khalistan groups suspected the threat to be from India. The chief of Sikhs for Justice and the alleged head of Khalistan Tiger Force faced multiple terror-related charges by the Indian Law Enforcement. India’s National Investigation Agency (NIA) had also announced an award of Rs.10 lakh in July last year for any disclosure that’ll accelerate his detention. But he was never tried in Canadian courts, while SFJ maintained that it won’t employ violence.
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SFJ’s general counsel Gurpatwant Pannun responded to claims about Indian elements not being listed as one of threats rather ambiguously, as he proceeded to say that he was “not privy” to the conversations between Nijjar and the Canadian agencies, or “if they mentioned India’s role in death threats to Nijjar.” He, nevertheless, stood by the submission that India was responsible for Nijjar’s “assassination.”
“The evidence leads to (an) Indian agency hiring a hitman to assassinate Nijjar including but not limited to NIA declaring reward to know the location and whereabouts of Nijjar and Indian TV Channels, without any convictions, calling Nijjar the most wanted terrorist,” Pannun added.
Pro-Khalistan groups have been running a poster campaign targeting India’s diplomats in Canada, including Sanjay Kumar Verma, High Commissioner to Ottawa, since the Khalistan exponent’s murder.That once started with the ‘Kill India’ posters that appeared in July, has metamorphosed into them brandishing ‘Wanted’ posters under the photographs of the High Commissioner and Consul Generals in Toronto and Vancouver. Similar posters have been flagged in India.
A music video tribute was also dedicated to Nijjar, released on the same day. The video used archival footage of Nijjar speaking, including when he said, “If they raze one of our pillars, we will raze four of theirs.”
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Whilst SFJ assured that the posters did not signify any violent threat, they maintained that the diplomats represented the Indians behind Nijjar’s murder. The reason for his murder remains unknown and is still being investigated by the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team.
