An old arrest warrant addressed to the Canadian Sikh leader whose assassination is at the heart of the India-Canada diplomatic crisis still hangs at the family home in his Punjabi village, where many believe Ottawa’s accusations against New Delhi.
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The peaceful hamlet of Bharsingpura in Punjab state has been in turmoil since Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Monday urged India to “take seriously” the murder case of Hardeep Singh Nijjar and the “credible elements” of New Delhi’s involvement raised by Ottawa.
The Indian government called the allegations “absurd” and denied “any act of violence in Canada.”
But Himmat Singh, Nijjar’s uncle, does not doubt Mr. Trudeau’s words and suggests that agents from the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), India’s intelligence agency, killed his nephew.
AFP
“I think it is the work of the Indian government. Yes, RAW agents are involved,” the frail 79-year-old farmer confided to AFP in his home.
“It is impossible for the Prime Minister of any country to make such an accusation without evidence. I believe what Trudeau said,” Mr. Singh stressed.
“The Indian government can call anyone a terrorist,” he added.
Nijjar was wanted by Indian authorities for alleged terrorism and conspiracy to commit murder.
According to the World Sikh Organization of Canada, a Canadian Sikh advocacy group, he had denied the allegations.
Hardeep Singh Nijjar was shot dead in June in Canada by two masked men in the parking lot of the Sikh temple he led in Surrey, near Vancouver in British Columbia (west).
As an activist for the creation of “Khalistan,” an independent Sikh state in northern India, Nijjar came to Canada in 1997 and was naturalized in 2015.
He was born in 1977 in the Indian state of Punjab, which is 58% Sikh. The state was rocked by a violent separatist movement in the 1980s and early 1990s that claimed thousands of lives.
India has often complained about the activities of the Sikh diaspora abroad, particularly in Canada, which New Delhi says is likely to revive the separatist movement thanks to massive financial aid.
Today, the movement’s most vocal supporters come primarily from the region’s diaspora.
The large red and yellow family home in the heart of the wealthy village, flanked by green rice fields, has been sealed since October 8, 2021, according to the arrest warrant above the doorbell, inviting Nijjar to appear on September 11, 2023. “absolutely”.
Nijjar is specifically accused of being the mastermind of the 2021 attack against Kamaldeep Sharma, a Hindu priest living in Bharsingpura. Mr. Sharma was shot and injured by masked men who penetrated his temple.
But Mr. Sharma refuses to believe Nijjar’s involvement.
“I had no animosity. Nijjar was not involved in the attack. I don’t know how the investigating agencies could find him guilty in my case,” says Mr. Sharma, 39, still surprised.
“In fact, Nijjar’s family helped me and paid for my care,” he says.
Kanwar Pal Singh, secretary of Dal Khalsa, a pro-“Khalistan” organization, describes Nijjar as a “humble Sikh” “who is loved by everyone in his region.” The organization made the murdered activist a “martyr.”
“In the eyes of Sikhs, Indian authorities are the main suspects,” he told AFP. “India had asked Canada to hand over Nijjar. Since it had failed legally, it resorted to extrajudicial means,” he accuses her. “If India has clean hands, it should join the investigation.”
In Bharsingpura, Ram Lal, head of this farming village, supports the Indian government.
“Nijjar believed in violence and violence is not a solution to any problem,” he commented to AFP. “Canada is making false allegations. What evidence do you have of Indian involvement?”
However, farmer Amreek Singh points out that there are still many unanswered questions. “How could he carry out murders and bombings in India? He didn’t even live here.”