Hardeep Singh Nijjar, the chief of the banned Khalistan Tiger Force (KTF) and one of India’s most-wanted terrorists who carried a cash reward of `10 lakh on his head, was gunned down outside a gurdwara in Canada, officials here said on Monday.
Two unidentified gunmen opened fire at Nijjar, 45, as he was preparing to leave in his vehicle from the parking lot of Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara, Surrey, in the western Canadian province of British Columbia at around 6 am IST Monday (8.30 pm on June 18, Sunday, Canadian time), local reports claimed.
Police officers provided medical assistance until paramedics arrived, but the man died of his injuries at the scene, they said, adding no arrests have been made and the police have not released any suspect descriptions.
The Gurdwara was being presided over by Nijjar himself for the past four years, giving rise to speculation that funds from the shrine were being embezzled for funding terror activities in Punjab.
Canada-based Nijjar was designated a “terrorist” by India under the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act in July 2020 and his property in the country was attached by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in September 2020.
Interpol Red Corner Notice was also issued against him in 2016. The local police of Surrey had also put Nijjar under house arrest temporarily in 2018 on suspicion of his terror involvement but he was released later.
The killing is the latest instance of terror kingpins being targeted outside India. In May, another wanted Khalistani terrorist Paramjit Singh Panjwar was shot dead by unidentified gunmen while he was out for a morning walk near his residence in Lahore, the provincial capital of Pakistan’s Punjab province.
Panjwar, 63, was heading the Khalistan Commando Force-Panjwar group and was also designated as a terrorist by India under the UAPA in July 2020.
Nijjar, a native of village Bhar Singh Pura in Jalandhar, Punjab, had a long tryst with Khalistan militancy since migrating to Canada in 1995.
Initially, an operative of Babbar Khalsa, he was involved in some of the most high-profile terror cases of the first decade of the millennium including the Shingar Cinema bomb blast (Ludhiana, 2007) and the assassination of Rashtriya Sikh Sangat President Rulda Singh (Patiala, 2009).
He was introduced to Pakistan-based fugitive KTF supremo Jagtar Singh Tara, now incarcerated in India, in 2011 and switched to the newly formed KTF.
According to reports, Nijjar regularly met with Jagtar Singh Tara, the fugitive KTF supremo based in Pakistan. These meetings allegedly took place during the annual jathas, where Nijjar was purportedly trained in the fabrication of improvised explosive devices (IEDs) and the handling of high-end firearms.
Officials have also disclosed that Nijjar provided substantial financial support to Tara from Canada. He reportedly financed Tara’s relocation from Pakistan to Thailand in 2014 and went to great lengths to prevent Tara’s deportation from Thailand later that same year.
Nijjar reportedly trained three Sikh youths in the handling of AK-47 rifles and Russian sniper guns in Mission City, British Columbia. These individuals were then sent to India with the intention of targeting senior police officials and prominent leaders of the Dera sect, according to officials.
After a hiatus of several years, Nijjar resurfaced with a series of alarming incidents. He was linked to multiple acts of terrorism, including the killings of Manohar Lal Arora, a follower of the Dera sect (November 2020), Avtar Singh, former Sarpanch of Udhampur village in Ropar (December 2021), and an attempted assassination of Pragya Gyan Muni, the priest of Bhar Singh Pura village (January 2021).
Moreover, it has been revealed that Nijjar formed an alliance with Arshdeep Singh Gill, also known as Arsh Dala, a notorious Punjabi gangster based in Surrey. Together, they delved into organized financial crimes in both Punjab and Canada to finance their terror plans. This venture reportedly made Nijjar a target for rival criminal gangs operating in the Surrey-Delta area.
In early 2019, Nijjar was enlisted by the US-based organization Sikhs For Justice (SFJ) to lead their ‘Referendum 2020’ campaign in Canada. Since then, he became a prominent figure in SFJ-sponsored demonstrations and car rallies in the Surrey-Vancouver region. Nijjar was known for his provocative actions, including desecrating the Indian national flag outside the Indian Consulate in Vancouver on significant Indian national days. He also played a prominent role in the ‘Referendum voting’ events in Brampton and Mississauga, Ontario, last year.
As the Canadian police moved Nijjar’s body from the scene, a group of Sikhs reportedly raised pro-Khalistan and anti-India slogans, indicating the continuing support for such ideologies.
In recent developments, Avtar Singh Purba, a prominent pro-Khalistani activist involved in the attack on the Indian High Commission in London, passed away in a Birmingham hospital after a prolonged illness. Singh was allegedly affiliated with the banned Khalistan Liberation Force (KLF) remnants active in the UK and other countries.
Additionally, several other instances of targeted killings have occurred in Pakistan and Afghanistan. Bashir Ahmad Peer, a self-styled commander of the terror outfit Hizbul Mujahideen, was shot dead in Rawalpindi, while Syed Khalid Raza, a former commander of the Pakistan-based Al Badr terrorist group, was similarly killed outside his residence in Karachi. Kashmir-born terrorist Aijaz Ahmad Ahanger, also known as Abu Usman Al-Kashmiri, reportedly met his demise in Kunar province, Afghanistan.
