New Delhi: Even as Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau triggered a diplomatic row with India by accusing New Delhi of having a hand in the killing of Khalistani extremist Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Surrey, British Columbia, another gangster with links to Khalistani extremists, Sukhdool Singh, was shot dead in Winnipeg.
Sukhdool Singh alias Sukha Duneke was shot dead in his flat at Hazelton Drive Road in Winnipeg last Thursday. Sukhdool was a close associate of the dreaded gangster Arshdeep Singh Dala. Reports suggest that it was Dala that the attackers had targeted, but he had a narrow escape as he had left Sukhdool’s flat moments before the attack took place. Canadian media reports described Sukhdool’s death as a case of gangland slaying.
Sukhdool’s killing is the latest in a series of deaths of Khalistani extremists or people linked to the Khalistan movement on foreign soil in recent times. On May 6, Paramjeet Singh Panjwar, head of the Khalistan Commando Force, was shot dead while he was on a morning walk near his house in Lahore. He was in a park at Sunflower Housing Society when two assailants fired at him and fled the spot on a motorcycle.
Paramjeet, 63, was involved in drugs and weapons smuggling. The Government of India had designated him as a terrorist under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act in July 2020. He also had the support of Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI). Paramjeet originated from Jhabbal village in the Taran Tarn district of Punjab.
On June 15, Avtar Singh Khanda, a leader of the Khalistan Liberation Force, died at a hospital in Birmingham, UK. While some reports claimed that Avtar, 35, died due to food poisoning, UK medical records state that he died of blood cancer. Avtar is believed to have been the brain behind the conspiracy to attack the Indian High Commission in London on March 19. He is also the man, who mentored Amritpal Singh and sent him to India, as the head of Waris Punjab De.
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Intelligence agencies, however, believe that Avtar was killed by rival Khalistani activists as they thought that he had become a liability after the conspiracy behind the attack on the Indian High Commission was exposed. Then again, on June 19, 45-year-old Hardeep Singh Nijjar, leader of the Khalistan Tiger Force (KTF) and head of the Canadian arm of the proscribed Sikhs for Justice (SFJ), was shot dead in the parking lot of a gurdwara at Surrey in Vancouver, Canada.
A native of Harsinghpur in the Jalandhar district of Punjab, Nijjar reportedly worked as a plumber in Surrey, Canada. He was elected to head the Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara in Surrey, Canada. He had visited Pakistan in 2013-14 to meet with Jagtar Singh Tara of the KTF, who was arrested from Thailand in 2015, and Pakistan’s ISI, according to the Institute for Conflict Management.
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) had designated Nijjar as a terrorist under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act in 2020 and had put a reward of Rs 10 lakhs on his head. On September 18, Trudeau came up with the explosive allegation in the Canadian Parliament that India had a hand in the killing of Nijjar. India hit back hard dismissing the allegation as “absurd and motivated” and also expelling a senior Canadian diplomat in a tit-for-tat response after Ottawa expelled a senior Indian diplomat. India then issued a travel advisory to Indians travelling to or living in Canada. New Delhi did not stop at that. It suspended the issuance of visas to all Canadians. New Delhi has also asked Ottawa to downsize its diplomatic staff in India and bring it to parity with the number of its diplomats in Canada.
According to media reports, New Delhi has been providing Ottawa with dossiers of Khalistani separatists active on Canadian soil since 2020. But, Canadian authorities took little action in this regard. In fact, Trudeau’s government is running with the support of the New Democratic Party, which is headed by Jagmeet Singh, a known supporter of the Khalistani cause.
In the case of Sukhdool’s killing, Indian authorities had provided proof of his gangster boss Arshdeep Singh Dala’s links with Pakistan-based terrorist outfit Lashkar-e-Toiba and the Inter-Services Intelligence. Will Canada take action or will Trudeau remain intransigent? Watch this space.
