Pro-Khalistan activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar was shot dead by unidentified bike-borne assailants in Canada’s British Columbia on Sunday. Nijjar was designated to be a terrorist under Indian law.
According to reports, the activist was shot in the evening at Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara in Surrey, a city in Canada with a large Sikh diaspora.
Nijjar headed the secessionist group Khalistan Tiger Force (KTF). He was also the Canadian chapter chief of Sikhs for Justice (SFJ), a US-based group which has been leading a global campaign to carve a separate Sikh homeland of ‘Khalistan’ from the Indian state of Punjab.
He was instrumental in organizing the referendum for a separate Sikh homeland in Brampton, a suburb of Ontario.
India’s National Investigation Agency (NIA) had previously charged him in four cases pertaining to extremism, including a plot to kill a Hindu priest in Punjab.
The NIA had also announced a reward of one million INR (nearly $12,200) for any information leading to Nijjar’s arrest.
The shooting comes against the backdrop of growing concerns in India over the surge in pro-Khalistan activities in Canada.
In recent months, pro-Khalistan groups have staged violent protests at Indian diplomatic missions in the wake of New Delhi’s crackdown and arrest of radical Sikh preacher Amritpal Singh.
Pro-Khalistan activities have also targeted Hindu temples in several Canadian cities, as well as vandalized Indian symbols such as the bust of Indian freedom fighter Mahatma Gandhi in recent months.
New Delhi has condemned these incidents and urged Canadian authorities to prosecute the people behind them.