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Arrests Expected in the Assassination of Nijjar

The three sources told the daily that police will explain the alleged assassins’ involvement and that of the Indian government when charges are laid against the two men…reports Asian Lite News

Canada’s Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) is expected to arrest two men, who investigators believe fatally shot Sikh separatist leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar in June this year, and are still in the country, a media report said.

The suspects, who have been under police surveillance for months, can be arrested and charged in a matter of weeks, The Globe and Mail newspaper reported, citing sources.

The three sources told the daily that police will explain the alleged assassins’ involvement and that of the Indian government when charges are laid against the two men.

It remains unclear whether the RCMP are expected to arrest any suspected accomplices in the slaying, especially after The Washington Post reported in September, citing video footage and witness accounts, that at least six men and two vehicles were involved in the killing.

The RCMP is yet to respond to questions from the daily about the investigation and whether charges were imminent.

Nijjar, 45, was fatally shot multiple times by unidentified gunmen outside a Sikh temple in British Columbia province on June 18, following which Prime Minister Justin Trudeau accused the Indian government in September of being involved in the shooting.

India vehemently denied Trudeau’s claims, calling them “absurd and motivated” after which bilateral relations went off the course with tit-for-tat expulsion of diplomats, New Delhi temporarily suspending visa operations in Canada, and Ottawa calling off trade talks.

According to the Indian government, Nijjar was “actively involved in operationalising, networking, training and financing” members of the banned militant group Khalistan Tiger Force.

Reacting to Trudeau’s remarks, India’s Ministry of External Affairs said, “as far as Canada is concerned, they have consistently given space to anti-India extremists and violence. That is at the heart of the issue”.

In an interview to Canadian Press this month, Trudeau said that his statement linking Indian agents to the killing of Nijjar was meant to deter India from repeating a similar action in the country.

He said the message was intended as an extra ‘level of deterrence’ as “too many Canadians were worried that they were vulnerable”.

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Canadian Sikh MP Reveals ‘Clear’ Intelligence on Foreign Government’s Role in Killing

Trudeau’s Liberal, which is short of the majority mark in the 338-member House of Commons, depends on Singh’s NDP for survival…reports Asian Lite News

Canadian Sikh MP Jagmeet Singh said the country has “clear” and “credible intelligence” that lays out that a foreign government was involved in the killing of its citizen and pro-Khalistan hardliner Hardeep Singh Nijjar, and that the fear of Sikhs being targeted in Canada is a “very real”.

Stating that he received two intelligence briefings, including one from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Singh told reporters on Tuesday: “I can confirm what the prime minister has shared publicly — that there is clear intelligence that Canada has that lays out the following case that a Canadian citizen was killed on Canadian soil and a foreign government was involved.”

“That intelligence is something that I think is very credible,” Singh, the leader of New Democratic Party (NDP), an ally of the ruling Liberal Party, said.

Trudeau’s Liberal, which is short of the majority mark in the 338-member House of Commons, depends on Singh’s NDP for survival.

The leader, who is perceived as a Khalistan supporter in India, said that the fear of Sikhs being targeted in Canada is a “very real fear”.

“For a long time, members of the Sikh community have been have been targeted by actions of the Indian government, and for a long time that has gone often unnoticed or unrecognised,” he said.

“For a lot of people hearing the Prime Minister of a G7 nation provide intelligence that connects the killing of a Canadian on Canadian soil by foreign government really confirmed a lot of the fears that people have felt and it made those fears even more real and more tangible. So it is very hurtful and harmful to a lot of people who have now really felt validated but also are more free than ever.”

He also claimed that members of other diaspora communities from India, who have been targeted because of their human rights activism, also “share that fear”, and are critical of “Indian government or the government policies”.

“I speak of other religious minority communities like Muslims, other communities that are oppressed like women and groups that are from low caste backgrounds or tribal backgrounds who’ve expressed very deep concerns about the treatment that they’ve received. They’re also feeling that real sense of fear and worry,” he claimed.

Earlier, Singh had spoken to his constituents, promising to get to the bottom of the truth behind Nijjar’s murder just after Trudeau’s allegations against India.

On being asked about the public release of the evidence, Singh said that information will be made public in an appropriate manner, and doing it early “would jeopardise the investigation and jeopardise the work that’s being done”.

“This is unprecedented intelligence that has come forward and that is why we’re going to continue to urge that the Canadian government have a thorough investigation that those responsible are brought forward,” the NDP leader said.

Singh told reporters that he was able to request the briefing on the matter because of the top-secret security clearance he obtained to review foreign-interference materials prepared by former governor general David Johnston, the CTV news channel reported.

Relations between India and Canada nosedived after allegations levelled by Trudeau over the involvement of officials of Indian agencies in the murder case of Nijjar, who was shot dead outside a gurdwara in Surrey in June.

Calling the claims “absurd”, India’s government has accused Canada of not providing evidence to back up its claim.

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