Mr. Nijjar was a plumber, a community activist and a temple leader – but also a man Indian authorities considered a terrorist plotting the separation of part of their country to create a Sikh state
In the hours before two gunmen fatally ambushed him last June, Hardeep Singh Nijjar addressed the worshippers at the Sikh temple he presided over in Surrey, B.C., and warned that if something were to happen to him, it would be the work of India, whose government had long seen him as an extremist.
He was a co-ordinator in a non-binding referendum in support of an independent Sikh homeland, a movement that the Indian government has tied to an insurgency from Sikh separatists in the 1980s. But despite India’s designating him a terrorist, Mr. Nijjar’s family and supporters say India hasn’t shown any evidence he was violent.Balraj added that his father had been meeting with members of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, who had warned that there were threats against him.Mr.
According to immigration papers filed in court, he landed in Toronto in February 1997, carrying a false passport and his hair cut short to hide his Sikh identity. The passport was in the name of “Ravi Sharma” and Mr. Nijjar said he used a fabricated identification at the suggestion of a travel agent helping him get to Canada.
The next month, while Mr. Nijjar appealed the decision, he met a divorced Sikh woman who had permanent residency status. They agreed to an arranged marriage. He said it was set up by the uncle of a friend. By then, Mr. Nijjar had two sons and his own plumbing business. He began his activism with Mr. Pannun, working on a campaign to have the 1984 anti-Sikh riots recognized as genocide. He joined a delegation to United Nations offices in Geneva in 2013 to submit a petition.
Two years later, he became president of one of Surrey’s main Sikh temples, the Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara. The temple’s society is a federally-registered charity that, last year, declared revenues of $3.7-million, mostly from donations.
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Timeline of events surrounding killing of B.C. temple leader Hardeep Singh NijjarPrime Minister Justin Trudeau announced in Parliament Monday that there is 'credible' intelligence linking agents of the Indian government to the shooting death of a Sikh temple leader in Surrey, B.C.
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Timeline of events surrounding killing of B.C. temple leader Hardeep Singh NijjarPrime Minister Justin Trudeau announced in Parliament Monday that there is 'credible' intelligence linking agents of the Indian government to the shooting death of a Sikh temple leader in Surrey, B.C.
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Timeline of events surrounding killing of B.C. temple leader Hardeep Singh NijjarPrime Minister Justin Trudeau announced in Parliament Monday that there is 'credible' intelligence linking agents of the Indian government to the shooting death of a Sikh temple leader in Surrey, B.C.
Lire la suite »
Timeline of events surrounding killing of B.C. temple leader Hardeep Singh NijjarPrime Minister Justin Trudeau announced in Parliament Monday that there is 'credible' intelligence linking agents of the Indian government to the shooting death of a Sikh temple leader in Surrey, B.C.
Lire la suite »