Photo courtesy of Sukhmani Sandhu via Flickr.
Protests have sparked amidst beliefs that the murder of a Khalistan activist was state sanctioned.
By Kiera McLaughlin ’26
Staff Writer
Content Warning: This article discusses murder and state-sanctioned violence.
The murder of a prominent Sikh-Canadian activist has sparked worldwide protest, as many believe the Indian government may be responsible for the attack. On June 18, 2023, Sikh-Canadian activist Hardeep Singh Nijar was murdered while outside a Sikh temple in a city in British Columbia, Canada, according to Al Jazeera. BBC News reported that Nijar was fatally shot by two masked gunmen while in his truck. The following month, protests began in Toronto and around the world in opposition to what is believed to be the Indian government’s involvement in Nijar’s murder.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has declared that Canadian security has found “credible allegations of a potential link” to Indian government agents killing Mr. Najar, Al Jazeera reported. Trudeau stated on Sept. 18 that “any involvement of a foreign government in the killing of a Canadian citizen on Canadian soil is an unacceptable violation of our sovereignty. In the strongest possible terms, I continue to urge the government of India to cooperate with Canada to get to the bottom of this matter.”
Maahi Jaiswal ’24, born and raised in India, highlighted the fact that in March 2022, Canada’s New Democratic Party agreed to support Prime Minister Trudeau. According to BBC News, in exchange for the support of the NDP, Trudeau’s party would support the NDP’s priorities in parliament.
The NDP is a known supporter of the Khalistan movement. As explained by BBC News, the Khalistan movement is the fight for an independent Sikh state in India, often strongly supported by the Sikh diaspora in Canada and other Western countries. Hardeep Singh Nijar was a well-known Khalistani activist who advocated for a separate state.
In response to the prime minister’s accusation, the Indian ministry released a statement asserting that “allegations of Government of India’s involvement in any act of violence in Canada are absurd and motivated. We are a democratic polity with a strong commitment to rule of law,” Al Jazeera reported.
To further complicate these tensions, there is a deep-rooted, historical conflict between the Indian government, the Sikh community and the Khalistan movement. According to CNN, the Sikh community makes up 2% of the Indian population as a religious minority and has a vast diaspora around the world, including in Canada, where more than 770,000 Sikh members live.
According to Minority Rights’ World Directory of Minorities and Indigenous Peoples, the Khalistan movement has slowed down in India since the late 1990s. The Directory explained that the 1984 anti-Sikh riots have left high tensions between the Indian government and the Sikh community.
According to BBC News, Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi ordered the military to storm the Golden Temple, one of the holiest sites for Sikhs, in June 1984 targeting separatists and leading to many deaths and damaging the temple. A few months later, Gandhi was murdered by two Sikh guards, leading to four more days of rioting and violence.
While the Khalistan movement has lost momentum in India, some in the diaspora still advocate for a separate state independent from India.
“There are a few pockets of Khalistan sentiment in some communities outside of India,” Jaiswal said. “For the most part, a lot of the Sikh people I know don’t share this sentiment … the Indian government wants to protect its national interest by striking down separatist sentiment,
“The Khalistan movement doesn’t really exist in India to the same extent as in Canada. Canada does have a lot of Indian students attending university there, so these political moves could endanger Indian students’ safety in Canada.”
According to BBC News, Hardeep Singh Nijar was a prominent activist for the Khalistani state and was labeled by the Indian government as a terrorist and militant leader. His supporters claim that he was often a target for threats because of his activism and that accusations by the Indian government are “unfounded,” BBC News further reported.
Along with Nijar, two other prominent Sikh activists have recently died. Avtar Singh Khanda, head of the Khalistan Liberation Force in the United Kingdom, died under “mysterious circumstances'' in June. In Lahore, the capital of Pakistan’s Punjab province, Paramjit Singh Panjwar, a labeled terrorist by the Indian ministry, was fatally shot in May.
In the wake of the tensions between India and Canada, on Sept. 19, the Indian foreign ministry asked the Canadian diplomat to leave the country within five days, according to Al Jazeera. This was after the Indian diplomat was ordered to leave because of the murder of Najar.
Then, on Sept. 21, 2023, India suspended visas for Canadian citizens over “security threats” against diplomats in Canada, reported CNN. India’s foreign ministry sent out an advisory that urged citizens to be cautious in Canada, warning about “politically condoned hate crimes.”
This has led to political tension around the globe, especially between Canada’s allies: the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand, according to Al Jazeera. In a comment made to Al Jazeera, Stephanie Carvin, a professor of international relations at Carleton University, explained that “India is important in Western calculations for balancing China, and Canada is not.”
White House National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications John Kirby said, “[The White House is] deeply concerned by these allegations Prime Minister Trudeau laid forward and remain in regular contact with our Canadian partners,” but continued by adding that the United States’ contact with India also “remains vitally important, not only for the South Asia region but of course the Indo-Pacific,” according to Al Jazeera.
Many of these tensions escalated in the days after the G20 Summit, hosted in India’s capital, New Delhi, where 20 countries met to discuss global and political problems, reported BBC News. During the summit, the United States and India, alongside Saudi Arabia and the EU, partnered to announce a new system of railways and trade routes, created to offset China’s project to develop new global trading with the similar Belt and Road Initiative.
According to BBC News, Najar had been working on the plan for a non-binding referendum in Sept. 2023, which would survey the amount of the Sikh diaspora in Canada that would vote for an independent state as part of a global consensus. The vote was scheduled for Sept. 10, the second day of the G20 summit, to help the Sikh community to call attention to their movement CBC reported.
In an interview with CBC, Indira Prahst, a sociology and anthropology professor at Langara College, said that while it is unlikely that the vote will result in the formation of a new state, “it’s powerfully symbolic because of what it’s showing … it’s rekindling the spirit of Khalistan that has not been quashed.”
Editor’s note: Maahi Jaiswal ‘24 is a member of the Mount Holyoke News.