The Legacy of the Golden Temple - Sikh Separatism and the Killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar
The Asian Crime Century briefing 38
The killing of Mr. Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a Sikh leader in Canada, in June this year has led to a diplomatic crisis after the Canadian government announced that the Indian authorities could have been involved. Mr. Nijjar was shot dead in his truck by two masked gunmen outside the Nanak Sikh Gurdwara temple in Surrey, British Colombia. Hardeep Singh Nijjar was born in Punjab Province of India, moved to Canada in 1997 and became a citizen of that country in 2007. He was a vocal campaigner for an independent state of ‘Khalistan’ for Sikhs.
On 18 September, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau stated in parliament that “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.” Some of the intelligence regarding the killing seems to have come from sources outside Canada, and on 23 September the US Ambassador to Canada stated that "I will say this was a matter of shared intelligence information. There was a lot of communication between Canada and the United States about this, and I think that's as far as I'm comfortable going.”
The Foreign Affairs Minister of Canada later announced that the government had expelled Pavan Kumar Rai, the senior member in Canada of the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), the Indian foreign intelligence agency. The RAW was formed in in 1968 as a result of Indian failures to detect the build-up to the border war with China in 1962. The focus of the RAW has largely been on Pakistan and India, but the agency has a typically wide external intelligence responsibility. The RAW was involved in direct support for the terrorist ‘Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam’ (LTTE) in the 1970s. In the 1980s, the RAW reportedly established covert action groups targeting both Pakistan as well as ‘Khalistani’ (Sikh) separatist groups which involved conducting a bombing campaign in Pakistan. The RAW has a history of conducting offensive intelligence operations in difficult environments and should be considered highly capable.
There are other deaths of Sikh leaders that raise questions. In July 2022, Ripudaman Singh Malik, a Sikh who had been acquitted of murder charges relating to the bombing of Air India flight 182 in 1985 in which 329 people were killed, was shot and killed in Surrey, British Colombia. In May, Paramjit Singh Panjwar who is designated as a terrorist by the Indian government, was shot and killed in Lahore, Pakistan.
India reaction
The issues have a long history relating to the conflict between Sikhs in India fighting against the Indian state for an independent homeland and also the Sikh diaspora of around 770,000 living in Canada. The Indian government considers Canada to be a haven for Sikh separatists, some of whom it accuses of being terrorists.
In reaction to the Canadian accusations, the Indian government has stated that Canada is a safe haven for terrorists, extremists and anti-India activities and based on the “security threat” has suspended visa operations in the country. A spokesperson for India's Ministry of External Affairs said that the Canadian authorities are not addressing the "very significant concerns about terrorism, about security of diplomats, of the Indian community and the overall anti-India activities that are being … given a safe haven in Canada."
The statements from the Indian Ministry of External Affairs are very strongly worded and will lead to a negative reaction in Canada. On 19 September, the Ministry issued a statement rejecting the allegations by Canada and stating that “Such unsubstantiated allegations seek to shift the focus from Khalistani terrorists and extremists, who have been provided shelter in Canada and continue to threaten India’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. The inaction of the Canadian Government on this matter has been a long-standing and continuing concern. That Canadian political figures have openly expressed sympathy for such elements remains a matter of deep concern. The space given in Canada to a range of illegal activities including murders, human trafficking and organised crime is not new.” On the same day India expelled a Canadian diplomat, saying that this reflected “India’s growing concern at the interference of Canadian diplomats in our internal matters and their involvement in anti-India activities.”
In addition, on 20 September the Indian Ministry of External Affairs issued an advisory to Indian nationals in Canada stating that “in view of growing anti-India activities and politically-condoned hate crimes and criminal violence in Canada, all Indian nationals there and those contemplating travel are urged to exercise utmost caution.” The advisory uses surprising language, saying that “threats have particularly targeted Indian diplomats and sections of the Indian community who oppose the anti-India agenda” and that there is that “deteriorating security environment in Canada, Indian students in particular are advised to exercise extreme caution and remain vigilant.”
Sikh Separatism and Babbar Khalsar
There is some basis to the allegations made by the Indian government. In July, posters were circulating at rallies outside the Indian Consulates in Vancouver and Toronto with the words “Kill India” and calling senior Indian diplomats “killers”. Melanie Joly, the Canadian Minister for Global Affairs subsequently made a statement saying that the protest material was unacceptable. The protests were in reaction to the killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, and similar protests took place in London, Melbourne, and San Francisco, illustrating the extent of the Sikh diaspora.
The most prominent Sikh group involved in violence fighting for an independent Sikh homeland in India, to be called ‘Khalistan’, has historically been the Babbar Khalsa International (BKI). The BKI has its origin dating in the 1920s with groups fighting against British rule in India but took its current form in 1978. The first unit of the BKI was reportedly founded in Canada in 1981, and the group is believed to also have active support in the USA, the UK, Germany, France, Belgium, Norway, Switzerland and Pakistan. The BKI was at the forefront of the insurgency in Punjab in the 1980s, when the group also became an international terrorist organisation utilising the Sikh diaspora.
The BKI is listed as a terrorist entity by the governments of Canada, the UK, and the US. The Canadian government states that “Babbar Khalsa International (BKI) is a Sikh terrorist entity that aims to establish a fundamentalist independent Sikh state called Khalistan (Land of the Pure) in what is presently the Indian state of Punjab. BKI activities include armed attacks, assassinations, and bombings. BKI has members outside of India in Pakistan, North America, Europe, and Scandinavia.”
A cause of strong Sikh anger was the storming of the Golden Temple at Amritsar by the Indian Army in 1984, ordered by the Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. The attack, codenamed ‘Operation Blue Star’, aimed to flush out militant separatists from the temple and led to the death of around 400 civilians as well as 87 soldiers according to the authorities. Sikh groups claim that thousands of people were killed in the fighting due to the presence of large numbers of pilgrims at the temple for a religious festival. The Indian Army started their assault using light weapons, but after coming under fire from Sikh militants fortified inside the temple and armed with automatic weapons and rocket propelled grenades they began using heavy weapons including tanks, artillery and helicopters. The result was significant loss of life on both sides and destruction of major parts of the Golden Temple, which enraged Sikhs around the world and boosted the BKI.
The Indian Ministry of Home Affairs has designated the BKI as a terrorist organisation, describing its objective to establish a separate State known as Khalistan through violent means. The Ministry of Home Affairs has stated that the BKI has been involved in major terrorist attacks including the bombing of Air India Kanishka flight 182 in June 1985 causing the death of 329 passengers; the assassination of the former Chief Minister of Punjab and a dozen staff members in 1995; bombings cinemas in New Delhi causing injuries to above 40 people in May 2005; and bombings of a cinema, in Ludhiana killing 6 people and injuring to 35 in 2007.
The bombing of Air India flight 182 led to protracted Canadian police and intelligence investigations into the BKI to seek those responsible and bring them to justice. 280 of the victims of the bomb attack were Canadians, making this the worst terrorist attack in Canadian history. The Canadian authorities launched a global hunt for the killers, although they were criticised in the commission of enquiry report in 2010 for failings to prevent the attack. However, Babbar Khalsa vilolence has diminished in the past decade and there is a reasonable question regarding there is a major international threat (although a latent threat clearly remains in India).
The killing of Mr. Hardeep Singh Nijjar and the response from the Indian government shows that the issue of Sikh separatism has not gone away, despite the reduction of terrorist activity and militants since the 1990s. The bombing of Air India flight 182 likely had an impact as many Sikhs would have been revolted by the atrocity which did nothing to compensate for the attack on the Golden Temple. The threat now is that if Indian government agencies are linked to the killing of Mr. Hardeep Singh Nijjar this may again radicalise many Sikhs and boost recruitment to the BKI.