Despite evidence from Indian intelligence services showing his involvement in terrorism, Canadian intelligence continues to present Hardeep Singh Nijjar, accused of being a Khalistan Tiger Force terrorist, as an innocent religious leader.
Ottawa has yet to present convincing evidence that India was responsible for the death of Khalistan Tiger Force terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar, but Canadian intelligence continues to promote the narrative of him as the innocent and religiously inclined head of Guru Nanak Gurudwara in Surrey, Canada.
According to a dossier compiled by Indian intelligence agencies, he became the head of the Sikh temple by threatening his own cousin, the institution’s former president Raghbir Singh Nijjar.
Nijjar was a longtime acquaintance of Khalistan Commando Force (KCF) terrorist Gurdeep Singh aka Deepa Heranwala, who was engaged in over 200 killings in Punjab in the late 1980s and early 1990s, according to the dossier. Gurnek Singh nicknamed Neka, another gang head, indoctrinated him into criminality.
According to the dossier, Nijjar fled to Canada in 1996 on a false passport under the name “Ravi Sharma” and worked as a truck driver and plumber. According to the report, he made contact with Pakistan-based KTF chief Jagtar Singh Tara and went to Pakistan in April 2012 under the guise of a Baisakhi jatha member. Tara radicalized him, and the Pakistan spy agency Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) nurtured him, with the former providing him with weapons and explosives training in 2012 and 2013. According to the dossier, Tara sent US-based Harjot Singh Birring to Canada in 2013 to instruct Nijjar on how to use a handheld GPS device. Nijjar took over as KTF operations chief in 2015, following the deportation of Jagtar Singh Tara from Thailand.
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According to the dossier, he already had an Interpol Red Corner warning against him at the time. Despite the fact that his request for political asylum was denied twice by Canadian immigration authorities, he was given citizenship in November 2014.
According to the dossier, Nijjar was actively involved in detecting, networking, training, sponsoring, and operationalizing KTF module members after taking leadership of KTF in Canada.
According to the dossier, in 2014, Nijjar provided funds to another Canada-based Sikh radical, Surjit Singh Kohli, who in turn provided funds to former Babbar Khalsa International terrorist Parminder Singh aka Kala to purchase a weapon to kill Bhaniarawala, a socio-religious head in Ropar, Baba Piara Singh and Shiv Sena leader Sanjeev Ghanouli, claiming both were anti-Panthic.
In December 2015, Nijjar conducted an armed training camp in Mission Hills, British Columbia, Canada, to teach Mandeep Singh Dhaliwal how to handle AK-47 assault rifles, sniper rifles, and pistols. He dispatched Dhaliwal to Punjab in January 2016 with the intention of assassinating Shiv Sena officials and inciting communal strife in the state, but the terrorist was apprehended by Punjab Police in June of the same year.
• According to the dossier, Nijjar and gangster-turned-terrorist Arshdeep Singh Dala trained a module of four KTF members, who carried out the targeted assassinations and abductions in 2020 and 2021. According to the report, three module members were captured, and revealed the names of Nijjar and Dala.
On the orders of Nijjar and Dala, three KTF members from Moga—Kanwarpal Singh, Kulwinder Singh, and Kamalpreet Singh—participated in a plot to assassinate SSP Moga Harmanbir Singh Gill and two inspectors from the criminal investigative agency in Moga district in September 2021.
• According to the dossier, on February 19, 2022, Haryana Police detained three members of a group involved in contract killings in Punjab on the orders of the KTF and the International Sikh Youth Federation (ISYF).
According to the dossier, Nijjar was declared a terrorist by the Home Ministry on July 1, 2020, and the National Investigation Agency announced a financial prize of ten lakh on July 22, 2022, despite the fact that the KTF head functioned with impunity in Canada.
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According to those acquainted with the situation, India’s goal was to persuade Ottawa to take action against him. Nijjar was the subject of ten FIRs in India, and New Delhi intended to prosecute him in those cases.
