New Delhi: The US intelligence agencies' meddling in the murder issue of Khalistani terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar in British Columbia in June brought to the fore the archetypal CIA-style of poking its nose into the foreign affairs of other countries of which Washington is not directly a part.
The murder of Nijjar, who became a prominent face of Khalistanis in Canada allegedly fuelled anti-India sentiment in foreign shores and influenced youth in Punjab to raise a banner of revolt against Indian authorities, became a subject of soured relationship between India and Canada.
Also read: India-Canada row: Hardeep Singh Nijjar's ancestral house put under lock
The US agencies provided information that led Canada to hold India responsible for Khalistan leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar's killing. According to Western-allied officials, after Nijjar's killing on June 18 outside a Sikh temple in British Columbia, "American spy agencies offered their Canadian counterparts context that helped Canada conclude that India had been involved."
A media report which spoke about US intelligence agencies' involvement came alongside US Ambassador to Canada David Cohen's claim that Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's allegation against India was based on "shared intelligence among Five Eyes partners".
Around the same time, the FBI agents reached out to several Sikh people in California this summer and sounded them a caution. Other than Canada, the five eyes intelligence sharing network is made up of the US, the UK, Australia and New Zealand, and was founded in 1946.
The agents warned that Khalisani terrorist's life was in danger. Pritpal Singh, a US citizen and coordinator for the American Sikh Caucus Committee said he and two other Sikh Americans received calls and visits from the FBI after Nijjar's death.
Sukhman Dhami, co-ordinator of Ensaaf, a California-based nonprofit group said Sikhs throughout the US also got police warnings about threats on them. The relationship between Canada and India hit a new low after Trudeau said there were 'credible allegations' of Indian involvement in the assassination of Hardeep Singh Nijjar. India has called the allegations 'absurd,' and adopted a tough stance against Canada stopping issuing of visas to Canadian citizens. India has also asked Canada to downsize its diplomatic staff. Both countries have expelled some top diplomats.
Meanwhile, premier anti-terror agency, the National Investigation Agency (NIA), has launched crackdown on Khalistani terrorists confiscating the properties and assets of all terrorists and their sympathisers. On Saturday, NIA confiscated Canada-based Khalistani terrorist Gurpatwant Singh Pannu’s properties in Amritsar and Chandigarh under Section 33 (5) of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) 1967.
“This is the first time that properties of an absconding accused have been confiscated under Section 33 (5) of UA (P) Act,” an NIA official said. Significantly, in a bid to further bolster its campaign against all these subversive elements, the NIA is also organising a two-day-long anti-terror conference in New Delhi. Top officials of RAW, IB, State intelligence agencies, and State anti-terror agencies are likely to take part in this conference, which is likely to be held in the second week of October. The emergence of Khalistani terrorism, terrorists and gangsters connection and emerging threats against India’s security are the major issues that will be discussed during the two-day-long conference, sources privy to the program said. The conference is likely to be inaugurated by Home Minister Amit Shah.
