Bloody inter-gang rivalries on Canadian soil, once a safe haven for pro-Khalistani outfits, have allegedly claimed the life of pro-Khalistani Hardeep Nijjar. Nijjar was shot dead by two gunmen in Surrey on Monday.
Nijjar's name was included in a list released by the Indian government, naming 40 other designated terrorists. In 2022, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) declared a Rs 10 lakh reward on Nijjar after he was accused of conspiring to kill a Hindu priest in Punjab's Jalandhar. Nijjar is accused of providing training to Khalistan Tiger Force militants and trying to revive the Babbar Khalsa International (BKI).
The safe havens of Pakistan, UK or Canada are no longer proving safe bets for the pro-Khalistani fugitives who are wanted in India in several cases related to reviving terrorism in Punjab. These fugitives are not only becoming an eye sore for the host country, given their criminal and terror history, but security officials said the Pakistan ISI which has been trying to revive the K2 project by teaming up with pro-Khalistani outfit—to create unrest in Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir—has suffered a big setback because of the swift counter-terror operations being carried out by New Delhi.
The result is huge pressure on these terror outfits whose financial networks are drying up and Pakistani handlers getting exposed. The latest developments have created an atmosphere of unease among the ranks who are indulging in bloody gang-wars and revenge killings.
Nijjar’s killing joins a series of deaths of top-rung pro-Khalistani operatives in the last few months and years; the latest being self-styled chief of Khalistan Liberation Force, Avtar Singh Khanda, who died of blood cancer in London on June 15. He was the face of the protests at the Indian High Commission and alleged handler of Khalistani separatist Amritpal Singh. In May, Pakistan-based Khalistani terrorist from Punjab, Paramjit Singh Panjwar, was shot dead by two unidentified gunmen in Lahore. He was a leader of the Khalistan Commando Force (KCF), a banned terror organisation.
Nijjar had nearly 10 FIRs against him and was suspected to be behind the killing of Indian-origin Canadian businessman Ripudaman Malik who was shot dead on July 14, 2022, in his car at a Surrey business complex. Malik was one of the main accused in the 1985 Air India (Kanishka bombing case) arrested by RCMP but acquitted by the Canadian court in 2005.
Inter-gang rivalries between Canadian gangsters of Indian origin have increased in the last few years. In July 2022, Meninder Dhaliwal and Satinder Gill were gunned down at a resort village, Whistler, in British Columbia. The attack was a typical gang killing, with a vehicle used by the killers set on fire a short distance away. A similar method was seen in the killing of Malik.
These gangs have been operating with different names—Dhaliwal belonged to the ‘Brothers Keepers' gang, allegedly involved in a turf war with the ‘United Nations' gang and ‘Red Scorpions'.
Gangsters who escaped abroad have been trying to run criminal syndicates and terror networks in Punjab through their associates masterminding targeted killings like that of Sidhu Moosewala, religious and political leaders, drugs and weapons trafficking , extortion activities and RPG attacks at vital installations in last two years. The Punjab police has been cracking down on the domestic networks even as trans-national investigations have been taken over by the NIA.
A native of Harsinghpur in Jalandhar, Nijjar was based in Surrey where he reportedly worked as a plumber first. He had visited Pakistan in 2013-14 to meet with Jagtar Singh Tara of KTF, arrested from Thailand in 2015. It is here where the Pakistan’s ISI allegedly roped him in to organise secrets training camps for Khalistani militants in Missigen Hills in British Colombia in December 2015 in which small arms training was imparted, claimed intelligence reports. Sources said he was working with another Canadian resident to revive BKI by providing funds.
But his past criminal record caught up with him soon as he was booked in several cases in India between 2010-2016. The cases ranged from explosion in Patiala in 2010 to plotting killings of religious leaders in 2016 and organising terror training camps on Canadian soil. He was briefly detained by Canadian authorities once, after a Look out Circular (LOC) and a Red Corner Notice (RCN) were issued, but was later released.