View: Justin Trudeau's Canada is home to pan-Khalistani extremists

Canada harbouring individuals linked to pan-Khalistani extremist activities; concerns about radicalization among Sikh youth.

Updated on: Oct 1, 2023, 17:11:57 IST

By Shishir Gupta

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With India's intelligence dossier on Khalistani elements operating from foreign soil, it is all but clear that Canada is harbouring individuals with strong links to pan-Khalistani extremist activities. So far HT has reported on around 18 individuals linked to Khalistani-gansters nexus operating from Canada. The dossier further reveals that Tehal Singh and his associates have been actively involved in promoting separatism and violence in Punjab while residing in Canada.

Pro-Khalistan flags during a protest outside India's consulate, a week after Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau allegations in the murder of Sikh separatist leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Canada. (Reuters)

Tehal Singh, originally from Jalandhar, Punjab, has been residing in Toronto, Ontario, and is closely associated with Gurjeet Singh Cheema, a member of the International Sikh Youth Federation (ISYF), a proscribed terror outfit. Singh and Cheema were instrumental in contacting Mann Singh during his visit to Toronto in 2015, where discussions revolved around establishing an independent Khalistan state.

Tehal Singh and Gurjeet Cheema encouraged Mann Singh to recruit Sikh youths for their extremist cause upon his return to Punjab. They also provided funds to further their agenda, raising concerns about potential radicalization among Canadian Sikh youth.

Tehal Singh's history in Punjab is tainted with involvement in various criminal cases, including arms smuggling and acts of terrorism. He has been declared a Proclaimed Offender (PO) in multiple cases, and he remains a key figure in promoting radicalism and militancy among Sikh youth in Punjab.

Malkeet Singh

Malkeet Singh, alias Fauji, has been residing in Surrey, British Columbia while being actively involved with ISYF and Babbar Khalsa International (BKI). He played a significant role in sourcing local-made weapons for extremist modules, with the intent to target Hindu Shiv Sena leaders and Sikh preachers involved in sacrilege incidents in Punjab.

Malkeet Singh introduced individuals to BKI terrorist Jaswant Singh, alias Kala, further illustrating the extent of his association with militant elements.

Manvir Singh Duhra

Another Khalistani extremist, Manvir Singh Duhra, originally from Jalandhar, Punjab, and currently residing in St. John, British Columbia has been actively involved in identifying and radicalizing Sikh youths for extremist activities in Punjab. He sent funds to an ISYF module member for purchasing locally-made weapons and personally visited Punjab to motivate module members to target those responsible for sacrilege incidents.

The revelations paint a troubling picture of Canada being a safe haven for individuals with ties to pan-Khalistani extremist activities. The Canadian government, under Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, increasingly faces scrutiny for its failure to address this pressing issue.

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