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Arrests in final yr’s killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar are set to gasoline extra diplomatic tensions between India and Canada.
Police in Canada have made arrests within the deadly 2023 taking pictures of outstanding Sikh-Canadian activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar, months after authorities accused Indian authorities brokers of being concerned within the killing, in response to media reviews.
Citing unnamed sources, CBC Information first reported on Friday that Canadian police have arrested “members of an alleged hit squad investigators imagine was tasked by the federal government of India” with killing Nijjar.
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) is predicted to carry a information convention in a while Friday.
Nijjar was fatally shot on June 18, 2023, outdoors a Sikh temple in Surrey, a metropolis in Canada’s westernmost province of British Columbia, spurring widespread condemnation.
A couple of months later, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau mentioned the nation’s safety companies had been investigating “credible allegations of a possible hyperlink” between Indian authorities brokers and Nijjar’s killing.
“Any involvement of a overseas authorities within the killing of a Canadian citizen on Canadian soil is an unacceptable violation of our sovereignty,” Trudeau mentioned in an handle to Canada’s parliament in September of final yr.
“Within the strongest attainable phrases, I proceed to induce the federal government of India to cooperate with Canada to unravel this matter.”
His feedback spurred a fierce response from India, which rejected the allegations as “absurd” and politically motivated. New Delhi additionally accused Canada of not doing sufficient to stem anti-India activism and “Sikh extremism”.
However Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s authorities has lengthy confronted allegations of concentrating on political opponents, journalists and non secular minorities, together with Muslims and Sikhs, in what rights teams have mentioned is a seamless effort to stifle dissent.
On the time of Nijjar’s killing, tensions had been rising between Canada and India over a Sikh marketing campaign for a sovereign state in India’s Punjab area. Generally known as the Khalistan motion, the marketing campaign has supporters in Canada.
Nijjar served as president of the Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara, the temple the place he was killed. He was amongst these advocating for Khalistan.
Requested to touch upon Friday’s reviews that arrests had been made within the case, Canada’s Public Security Minister Dominic LeBlanc referred reporters’ inquiries to the RCMP.
“You’ll perceive that the developments with respect to the homicide of a Canadian citizen, Mr Nijjar, are a part of an ongoing police operation. This operation began at this time. It’s nonetheless an energetic police operation,” LeBlanc mentioned in Ottawa.
In response to CBC Information, these arrested on Friday “performed completely different roles as shooters, drivers and spotters on the day Nijjar was killed”.
“Sources mentioned investigators recognized the alleged hit squad members in Canada some months in the past and have been holding them beneath tight surveillance,” the Canadian broadcaster mentioned.
The Excessive Fee of India in Ottawa didn’t instantly reply to Al Jazeera’s request for touch upon Friday afternoon.
In the meantime, Nijjar’s killing continues to lift questions round allegations of Indian overseas interference, notably inside Sikh diaspora communities in Canada, the USA and different international locations.
In September, Moninder Singh on the BC Gurdwaras Council instructed Al Jazeera that he was amongst 5 Sikh leaders — together with Nijjar — who had been warned by the RCMP’s nationwide safety division in 2022 about threats towards their lives.
Studies of an alleged plot to kill one other outstanding Sikh separatist chief within the US have additionally emerged following Nijjar’s loss of life. In late November, the US Division of Justice introduced expenses towards a 52-year-old Indian nationwide, Nikhil Gupta.
Gupta was accused of being a part of a foiled try and assassinate US citizen Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, in coordination with an Indian authorities worker and others.
The Washington Publish reported earlier this week that US intelligence companies decided that the operation to focus on Pannun was accredited by the then-head of India’s overseas intelligence company, referred to as RAW.
The Indian authorities rejected these allegations as “unwarranted” and “unsubstantiated”, in response to media reviews.