Hardeep Singh Nijjar: The terrorist who was mourned by Justin Trudeau and Gurpatwant Pannun

Justin Trudeau, whose government depends on support from pro-Khalistani MP Jagmeet Singh's NDP, alleged the role of Indian agents behind the killing of Nijjar.

Published on: Jun 21, 2024, 18:23:19 IST

By Shishir Gupta

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Canada's House of Commons observed a ‘moment of silence’ for Khalistani terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar on Tuesday, who was killed in a gangwar on the same day a year ago in Surrey, British Columbia.

The brazen act by Ottawa is not new as the ruling Justin Trudeau government continues to harbour radical Khalistani extremists on its soil, who burn effigy of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and even take out a tableau of Indira Gandhi's assassination.

Last September, Justin Trudeau, whose government depends on the support from pro-Khalistani MP Jagmeet Singh's New Democratic Party, alleged the role of Indian agents behind the killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar. However, Trudeau has not provided a proof to support his charges.

Nijjar, who became the head of a Sikh gurdwara in Surrey by threatening his own cousin, was portrayed as an innocent and religious-minded head by the Canadian intelligence.

But who is Hardeep Singh Nijjar, the terrorist whose death was mourned by Trudeau and Sikhs for Justice founder Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, a designated terrorist by the Indian government?

Hardeep Singh Nijjar (left), Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau and pro-Khalistani SFJ founder Gurpatwant Singh Pannun

Nijjar, hailing from Jalandhar in Punjab, migrated to Canada in 1996 and was a Babbar Khalsa International (BKI) operative before joining the Khalistan Tiger Force.

According to a dossier, Nijjar travelled to Pakistan between 2013 and 2014 to hold meetings with self-styled KTF chief Tara and officials of Islamabad's spy agency Inter Services Intelligence (ISI).

Nijjar is also accused of organising an arms training camp in Mission Hills in Canada's British Columbia, wherein he trained Mandeep Singh Dhaliwal and other youths to fire AK-47 rifles, sniper rifles and pistols. He sent Dhaliwal in 2016 to Punjab to target Shiv Sena leaders and VIPs.

In 2020, an FIR was registered by NIA against Nijjar, UK-based Paramjit Singh Pamma and Sikhs for Justice (SFJ) founder Gurpatwant Singh Pannu under Section 124A (sedition), 120B (criminal conspiracy), 153A (Promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence) and 153B (Imputations, assertions prejudicial to national-integration) of the Indian Penal Code. The trio was also booked under various sections of stringent anti-terror law Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act or UAPA.

The intelligence dossier accused Nijjar and his mentee Arsh Dala's involvement in the killing of Dera Sacha Sauda follower Manohar Lal in Bathinda in 2020, murderous attack on Hindu priest Pragya Gyan Muni in Phillaur (2021), attempted abduction and killing of Shakti Singh in Faridkot and more. Nijjar was designated as a terrorist by the MHA under UAPA in 2020. The NIA had even declared a reward of ₹10 lakh against Nijjar.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Shishir Gupta
Shishir Gupta is Executive Editor at Hindustan Times and one of India's top journalists covering national security, strategic affairs, foreign policy and geopolitics. Over the past three decades, he has extensively reported on India's military, diplomatic and security landscape, covering every major conflict and national security challenge, from the 1999 Kargil War and the 2020 East Ladakh standoff to Operation Sindoor in 2025. He has also covered major terror attacks, including the IC-814 hijacking, the 26/11 Mumbai attacks and the 2025 Pahalgam terror strike, along with numerous Pakistan-backed terrorist incidents in the Kashmir Valley and across India. He has reported on national and state elections for more than three decades. A recognised authority on strategic affairs, Gupta has covered India's nuclear programme since the Pokhran-II (Shakti series) tests in May 1998 and has written extensively on global nuclear issues, Indian diplomacy and the country's expanding global outreach. He has also reported widely on international conflicts and terrorism, with a special focus on the Indian subcontinent. Gupta has interviewed Prime Minister Narendra Modi more than four times, including Modi's first interview with the print media after becoming Prime Minister in May 2014. His other interviews include three with the Dalai Lama, as well as conversations with Benjamin Netanyahu, Amit Shah, Yogi Adityanath, S. Jaishankar, Nirmala Sitharaman and Piyush Goyal. He is the author of Indian Mujahideen: The Enemy Within (Hachette, 2011) and Himalayan Face-off: Chinese Assertion and Indian Riposte (Hachette, 2014). He was awarded the Chevening-Wolfson Joint Scholarship at Wolfson College, University of Cambridge, UK, in 1998 and participated in the International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP) of the US State Department in 2006. He received the Ben Gurion Prize from Israel in 2011 and the K. Subrahmanyam Prize for Strategic Studies in 2015 from the Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (MP-IDSA). Since 2024, he has hosted Point Blank, Hindustan Times' weekly YouTube show on global geopolitics.Read More

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