The escalating tensions between India and Canada have taken a new turn with the revelation of initial intelligence findings regarding the assassination of Khalistani terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar in 2023. Former Canadian National Security Advisor (NSA) Jody Thomas, who served during the time of Nijjar’s murder, testified before Canada’s foreign interference inquiry, shedding light on the early stages of the investigation.
Thomas revealed that initial intelligence and police investigation pointed towards a possible retaliation for the killing of Ripudaman Singh Malik, accused in the 1985 Air India Kanishka bombing. Malik, a Sikh activist acquitted in the Air India bombing case, was shot dead in Surrey on July 15, 2022, following a public smear campaign by Nijjar, who labeled him a traitor and called for his social boycott.
“It (Nijjar’s killing) was the second high-profile murder in the same gurdwara,” Thomas stated, adding, “Mr. Malik’s murder had occurred almost exactly the year before. The immediate intelligence and police response hypothesis was that it was a retaliation. But the community was raising concern.”
She further elaborated that as the investigation progressed, additional intelligence suggested a different scenario – that Nijjar’s assassination might have been an extra-judicial killing. “Through very good intelligence and policing work, we learnt that there was a high probability that this was an extra-judicial killing,” she stated.
Thomas’s testimony aligns with the ongoing accusations made by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau against India, accusing the Indian government of violating Canada’s sovereignty. Trudeau, while appearing before the same commission, claimed that Indian government agents were involved in Nijjar’s killing. However, India has vehemently denied these allegations, dismissing them as “absurd” and “motivated.” The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has repeatedly requested evidence to substantiate the claims, but Canada has yet to provide any proof.
India, in turn, has criticized the Canadian government for its perceived leniency towards Khalistan supporters in the country. The rift between the two nations escalated last year after Trudeau’s explosive claim in the Canadian parliament about India’s alleged involvement in Nijjar’s killing. The situation further deteriorated when Canada named India’s envoy to Ottawa, Sanjay Kumar Verma, as a “person of interest” in the investigation into Nijjar’s killing. India has described these fresh allegations as “preposterous” and a “strategy of smearing India for political gains.”
The revelation of the initial investigation linking Nijjar’s assassination to the murder of Ripudaman Singh Malik has added another layer of complexity to the already strained relationship between India and Canada. The ongoing investigation, with conflicting intelligence findings and accusations from both sides, is likely to keep the tensions between the two nations high for the foreseeable future.