Canada's 'moment of silence' for Nijjar, India's '1985 bombing' reply
The Canadian Parliament held a moment of silence on Tuesday to mark the first death anniversary of Khalistani separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar. Nijjar was gunned down in the parking lot of a Surrey temple on June 18, last year. Notably, in 2020, he was identified as one of the "most wanted" by the National Investigation Agency (NIA), and his name was included in a list of 40 "designated terrorists" by the Indian government.
Why does this story matter?
The relationship between India and Canada has been fraught for years due to efforts by certain Canadians advocating the creation of a separate Sikh homeland—Khalistan—within India. It deteriorated last year when Justin Trudeau publicly accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government of being involved in Nijjar's killing. Efforts to rekindle the relationship have remained lukewarm since then, with Trudea recently stating that India and Canada will cooperate on a range of important issues but didn't specify what those issues were.
Sikh activists stage mock murder trial for Modi
Sikh activists also commemorated the anniversary of Nijjar by staging a mock murder trial for Modi outside the Indian consulate in Vancouver. The mock trial featured a jury made up of actors and a judge wearing a curly white wig who asked the "prosecutor" to submit proof of Modi government's participation in the Nijjar murder last year. An effigy of Modi in prison stripes was paraded around the street in a makeshift cage before the sham trial began on Tuesday.
Watch: Video of the Parliament proceedings here
India refutes allegations, four arrested in connection
So far, four Indian nationals have been arrested by Canadian authorities in relation to the June 2023 murder of Nijjar. All of them have also been charged with first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder. At the time of the arrests, police said that investigations were ongoing, including "connections to the government of India." India has repeatedly dismissed the allegations of involvement in Nijjar's assassination as "absurd and motivated."
Indian consulate general's post on AI Kanishka bombing
Meanwhile, in response to the Canadian parliament's observance of silence for Nijjar, the Indian Consulate General in Vancouver announced on X a memorial service for the 329 victims of the 1985 Air India Kanishka bombing. The flight, en route from Montreal to London, exploded at 31,000 feet due to a bomb planted by Canadian Sikh terrorists. The tragedy claimed the lives of 268 Canadian, 27 British, and 24 Indian citizens, marking one of aviation's deadliest terrorist acts.
Read the X post here
Who was Nijjar
Nijjar was born in 1977 in Jalandhar, Punjab, and moved to Canada in 1997, where he worked as a plumber. He was initially linked to the Babbar Khalsa International (BKI) Sikh separatist group, which New Delhi has designated as a "terrorist organization" and claims is funded by Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) spy agency. He later became chief of the Khalistan Tiger Force (KTF) and was "actively involved in operationalizing, networking, training, and financing" its members, according to the Indian government.
