VANCOUVER, Canada: Months after the killing of an Indian Sikh leader in Canada, Nijjar – allegedly with the permission and support of India’s Modi-led government – some unknown persons shot dead another Sikh separatist leader, Sukhdool Singh in Canada’s Winnipeg on Wednesday.
Sukhdool Singh from Indian Punjab’s Moga district had fled to Canada in 2017 and was shot about 15 times. Sukhdool Singh, also known as Sukha Duneke, was on India’s most wanted list with NIA recently issuing his warrants.
His killing comes at a time when India-Canada relations are perhaps at an all-time low after Canadian PM Justin Trudeau alleged that India had a hand in the killing of Canadian citizen, also a Sikh separatist leader, Hardeep Singh Nijjar on Canadian soil a few months back.
All political parties in Canada stood by their PM’s claims on the subject and said that an investigation should be carried out. Following the Canadian PM’s allegations, Canada and India expelled one senior diplomat each from the embassy of the other country. India has also issued a travel advisory for Indians planning to travel to Canada.
Who was Hardeep Singh Nijjar?
Nijjar was born in 1977 in India’s northern state of Punjab’s Jalandhar district and moved to Canada in 1997 where he worked as a plumber, according to the Khalistan Extremism Monitor of the New Delhi-based independent Institute for Conflict Management.
New Delhi officially categorised him as a “terrorist”, saying he was involved in “exhorting seditionary and insurrectionary imputations” and “attempting to create disharmony among different communities” in the country.
For supporters demanding an independent Sikh state of ‘Khalistan’, Nijjar was a prominent leader and a strong voice for the cause. Hardeep Singh Nijjar was shot dead outside the same gurudwara on the evening of June 18.
Hundreds of people protested outside the Indian consulate in Vancouver after his murder, believing foreign hands were involved in his death.
