OTTAWA, CANADA – In a released press statement, The World Sikh Organization of Canada welcomed reports that police have arrested members of an alleged hit squad that assassinated Bhai Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Surrey, B.C. last June. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had informed the House of Commons on September 18, 2023 of “credible allegations” linking the Government of India to the murder.
According to reports, the individuals arrested today belong to the “Bishnoi gang” based out of India. The gang’s leader, Lawrence Bishnoi, has been incarcerated in Indian prisons since 2014. He has recently appeared on Indian news media and declaring himself an Indian nationalist and vowing opposition to those who support Khalistan. The Bishnoi gang has been implicated in an expansive extortion network targeting businesses in Canada in at least six different cities. Lawrence Bishnoi also took responsibility for the murder of Punjabi rapper Sidhu Moosewala in May 2022. Moosewala, a former Brampton resident, had begun to speak publicly about Khalistan and discrimination faced by Sikhs in India.
Intelligence sources have told CBC News that India has been using criminal gangs to conduct its activities in Canada.
In the Foreign Interference Commission’s report released today, Commissioner Justice Marie-Josee Hogue also found that “Indian officials in Canada have increasingly relied on Canadian and Canadian-based proxies and the contacts in their networks to conduct foreign interference. This obfuscates any explicit link between India and the foreign interference activities. Proxies liaise and work with Indian intelligence officials in India and in Canada, taking both explicit and implicit direction from them.”
WSO President Danish Singh said today, “While we welcome arrests in the assassination of Bhai Hardeep Singh Nijjar, we believe these arrests raise disturbing questions about the nexus between the Government of India and criminal gangs. How is an Indian criminal who has been in Indian prison since 2014 able to operate a gang targeting Sikhs in Canada for murder and extortion, on this scale?
Today’s report by the Foreign Interference Commission has confirmed that India uses proxies in Canada who work with Indian intelligence officials in India and Canada. While the arrest of the hit squad is important, what’s even more important is identifying and bringing to justice those who directed these operations. It would seem that the trail leads to India’s embassies and consulates in Canada and directly to the Government of India.”
The WSO is a non-profit national organization with a mandate to promote and protect the interests of Canadian Sikhs as well as to promote and advocate for the protection of human rights of all individuals, irrespective or race, gender, ethnicity, religion or nationality.
