Threats against Canadian Sikhs have intensified so much that the New York Times wrote about it

Incidents of violence against the Canadian Sikh community amid diplomatic tensions between Canada and India attract international media attention.

Lately The New York Times published an article titled “Violence and Threats: How a Campaign of Fear Shaken Canada’s Sikhs.”

The report highlights several key events involving Canadian Sikh activists associated with the campaign for Khalistan, an independence movement seeking a separatist Sikh nation in Punjab, India.

It also reveals several acts of intimidation and threats Canadian Sikhs have reportedly faced amid the ongoing diplomatic dispute.

Incidents against Sikhs in Canada are highlighted

The piece tells the story of the assassination of Canadian Sikh leader Hardeep Singh Nijar, who was shot dead outside the Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara in Surrey in June 2023.

The 45-year-old was a plumber and prominent member of Surrey’s Sikh community, as well as an advocate for Khalistan.

After the shooting, This was announced by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau “agents of the Government of India” were associated with the death of Nijarleading to heightened diplomatic tensions between Canada and India.

Following Trudeau’s accusations, India has suspended the issuance of visas from Canada, and diplomats were expelled from both countries.

Political division broke out again earlier this month when an RCMP report accused Indian government agents of “serious criminal activity” in Canada.

“Over the past several years and more recently, Canadian law enforcement agencies, including the RCMP, have successfully investigated and charged a significant number of individuals for their direct involvement in murder, extortion and other violent criminal acts,” the RCMP report said. .

Canada also removed India’s high commissioner and five additional diplomats, and India retaliated by expelling six Canadian diplomats.

Although the RCMP said it would not release evidence linking individual cases to the Indian government because of the ongoing investigation, The New York Times claims that “a review of court records and interviews with local police revealed new details of the surge in such crimes in Sikh communities for the past year”.

It said the “surge began shortly after Mr. Nijar’s murder” and Trudeau’s accusations against India in September 2023.

In a review of more than 100 pages of court documents detailing various incidents targeting Sikh businesses in Brampton, Ont., over the past year, the publication highlights several cases of “threats and violence committed by gang-based criminals.”

Among them is the shelling of a car dealership, the burning of a restaurant owned by Sikhs, and companies that become objects of extortion.

The story behind the tension

The Times provides additional context to the Khalistan movement, noting that its adherents are not visible in India and most live abroad.

Most Sikhs in Canada are “not involved” in the movement, but some feel their lives have been “overwritten by violence and intimidation.”

The publication interviewed Monider Singh, a friend of Nijar, who in 2022 received a warning from the Canadian authorities about an “imminent threat” to his life.

Singh said The New York Times that he felt India was trying to “silence” him and other Sikhs who spoke openly about the Khalistan movement.

The report said India was adamant that Canadian officials did not have “concrete evidence” to support the allegations against its government.
India also believes that Canada is not doing enough against “Sikh extremism,” a stance the country has held for decades, including after the 1985 Air India bombing, also known as the worst terrorist attack in Canadian history.

Sikh extremists from Canada were blamed for the bombing, and two people were acquitted of all charges.

The Indian government also issued a statement following the latest RCMP report.

It said it “strongly rejects these ludicrous allegations and attributes them to the Trudeau government’s political agenda centered around vote bank politics.”

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