Hardeep Singh Nijjar had also given a call to ban Indian Embassy officials to participate in various programmes organised by local gurdwaras in Canada.
New Delhi: Hardeep Singh Nijjar, the slain Khalistani separatist leader whose assassination has sparked a major diplomatic row between India and Canada, had received arms training in Pakistan with the assist of Islamabad’s notorious spy agency, ISI, according to a dossier prepared by Indian intelligence agencies.
Citing the dossier, India Today reported that Nijjar operated his banned Khalistan Tiger Force (KTF) outfit on Canadian soil and also played an active role in training and financing of KTF. The Khalistani terrorist also funded terror acts in Punjab and other parts of India, as per the dossier.
According to the dossier, Nijjar openly carried out separatist activities against India in Canada and organized training camps where he imparted arms training to Khalistani recruits, teaching them to use firearms like handguns, AK-47 assault rifles, and sniper rifles, the India Today report said.
The dossier claimed that Nijjar deployed shooters in India to to carry out targeted killings and attacks against political and religious figures.
Close links with ISI Pakistan-based Khalistani groups
Hardeep Singh Nijjar was initially a member of another outlawed Khalistani named Babbar Khalsa International (BKI), however, he joined KTF ranks after coming in contact with its Pakistan-based chief, Jagtar Singh Tara– the killer of former Punjab Chief Minister Beant Singh.
Nijjar visited Pakistan in April 2012 under the guise of a Baisakhi Jatha member where he was groomed by the ISI and received arms and explosives training for over a year in the neighbouring country. He visited Pakistan in 2013 and 2014 and held meetings with Tara and ISI in an attempt to strengthen the KTF and for organizing terror acts in Punjab.
Nijjar, who was initially a Babbar Khalsa International (BKI) operative, came in contact with Pakistan-based KTF chief Jagtar Singh Tara, the assassin of former Punjab Chief Minister Beant Singh. He visited Pakistan in April 2012 under the guise of being a Baisakhi Jatha member.
Nijjar took over the reins of KTF in 2015 after Tara was deported from Thailand to India. He had also sent another individual to Pakistan for receiving weapons training and learn using GPS devices.
Tara had also supplied arms and trained Nijjar in assembling IED in 2012 and in 2013, he sent US-based Harjot Singh Birring to Canada to train Nijjar in operating hand-held GPS devices.
A long history of terrorism
Hardeep Singh Nijjar was accused of carrying out several targeted killings and terror attacks in Punjab and had a long history of involvement in terrorist activities, according to the dossier. In February, then-Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh had handed a most-wanted list to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau which also featured Nijjar’s name.
As per police sources, Nijjar started his foray into Khalistani terrorism when started his association with Moninder Singh, one of the founders of the Sikh Liberation Front (SLF). Soon, Nijjar and others formed a gang, recruited people, and hatched a conspiracy to abduct and murder people other faiths to create a sense of fear and disaffection among different sections of society in Punjab, the dossier states.
As per the dossier, Nijjar and Arshdeep hired shooters to gun down people of other faiths in Punjab. The duo enticed these criminals with high-paying jobs and Canadian visas, it said, adding that the shooters also engaged in extorting money from Punjab-based businessmen at Nijjar’s behest.
In 2014, Nijjar planned a terror attack on Dera Sacha Sauda headquarters in Sirsa in Haryana on directions of Tara. However, the attack could not take place because Nijjar was denied Indian visa, news agency PTI reported, citing sources.
Nijjar allegedly muscled his way into the post of president of the local gurdwara in Surrey in Canada in 2021, forcibly deposing his cousin, Raghbir Singh Nijjar, the incumbent, with threats of violence, the PTI report said.
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) had registered several cases against Nijjar as well as issuing an Interpol Red Corner Notice for raising a module in Canada involving Khalistani separatist Mandeep Singh Dhaliwal.
Nijjar was also the head of Canada chapter of Sikhs For Justice, another banned terrorist organisation.
He had also organised violent anti-India protests in Canada and threatened Indian diplomats, sources said.
Nijjar had also given a call to ban Indian Embassy officials to participate in various programmes organised by local gurdwaras in Canada.
Nijjar also allegedly funded the 2010 Patiala bombing, according to one of the accused Ramandeep Singh and in December 2015, organised a weapons training camp in Mission Hills, British Columbia, Canada to train Mandeep Singh Dhaliwal in the use of an AK-47 assault rifle, a sniper rifle and a handguns,
Nijjar then deputed Dhaliwal to Punjab in January 2016 with orders to kill Shiv Sena leaders and create communal strife in the state. However, Dhaliwal was nabbed by the Punjab Police in June that year.
Nijjar and gangster-turned terrorist Arshdeep Singh Dalla had deployed a KTF module consisting of four members which carried out abductions, target killings and extortions from 2020 through 2021.
In July 2020, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) designated Nijjar as a listed terrorist and the NIA announced a cash reward of Rs 10 lakh against him.
Diplomatic row
Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a dreaded Khalistani extremist with over a dozen cases of murder and terrorism registered against him in India, was gunned down by unidentified attackers June 18 at a parking lot of a gurdwara in British Columbia. Nijjar had gone to Canada in 1997 using a counterfeit passport under the alias Ravi Sharma, the sources said.
Nijjar’s killing has sparked a massive diplomatic tussle between India and Canada after Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau alleged that the assassination had the “potential” involvement of Indian agents.
India has rejected the allegations as “absurd” and “motivated” and expelled a senior Canadian diplomat in a tit-for-tat move to Ottawa’s expulsion of an Indian official over the case.
In reflection of hardening of its position, India on Wednesday advised all its nationals living in Canada and those contemplating travelling there to exercise “utmost caution” in view of growing anti-India activities and “politically-condoned” hate crimes as well as “criminal violence” in that country.
India on Thursday announced temporarily suspending issuance of visas to Canadian citizens in view of “security threats” faced by its high commission and consulates in Canada.
(With PTI inputs)