VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA: A few days after pro-Khalistan leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar’s assassination in Canada’s biggest Gurdwara in Surrey British Columbia, another Sikh leader from the same Gurdwara was warned in writing “Duty To Warn” by the Canadian police and the intelligence service of the imminent threat to his life at the hands of Indian state agents.
According to evidence available, Gurmeet Singh Toor, a close associate of Nijjar and a senior member of the management committee of the Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara, was issued a “Duty To Warn” letter by the Canadian law enforcement on August 24, 2023, during an urgent visit at his home by the Canadian intelligence and the police that his life was in serious danger at the hands of Indian agents roaming in Canada on behalf of the Indian state.
An expert of the warning letter to Toor by the Canadian police said: “The police have determined by way of one or more investigative avenues that your life may be in peril. At this time, we are unable to provide you specific details of the threat.”
Toor had started actively campaigning with Sikh For Justice (SFJ) for Khalistan Referendum voting in BC after Nijjar’s assassination at the hands of Indian agents on June 18, 2023.
Nijjar was head of the Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara and Chief Coordinator of the Khalistan Referendum campaign in Canada. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has directly accused the Indian govt of being behind Nijjar’s murder, through Indian agents controlled and operated by Indian diplomats stationed at India’s consulates in Vancouver and Toronto.
In a statement, Canadian national Gurmeet Singh Toor said that India wants to kill him because like Nijjar, he is engaged in campaigning for the Khalistan Referendum and after Shaheed Nijjar’s assassination at the hands of gunmen hired by Indian agencies, and “I continue campaign for the Khalistan Referendum and particularly for September 10, 2023 voting event in Surrey”.
He revealed: “On August 25, 2023, around 11:20 pm while I was sleeping at my home, two Canadian officials belonging to Surrey Police and Integrated National Security Enforcement Team (INSET) respectively, knocked at my door and served the attached “Duty To Warn” notice. I was told by the officers that the fact that they have come to me at this hour of the night should be taken as an indication that the matter (threat) is really serious. I was instructed by the officers to be vigilant and careful.”
In a September 27 communique to PM Justin Trudeau, SFJ demanded immediate expulsion of India’s High Commissioner in Canada, Sanjay Kumar Verma on grounds that there is mounting evidence that the “agents of the Indian government” were involved in the killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Surrey, British Columbia, on June 18, 2023[1]; continued threat to the Khalistan Referendum campaigners in Canada at the hands of Indian agents.
SFJ’s letter highlighting the threat to Toor and campaigners of Khalistan Referendum in Canada is also addressed to leaders of the Conservative Party, Bloc Quebecois, NDP, and Green Party urging them to “to raise above the partisanship on this national issue which pertains to the core of existence shared by all Canadians – protecting of our country’s sovereignty from any foreign aggression and securing the life and liberty of all Canadians against any foreign invasion and threats”.
SFJ’s letter to the Canadian PM said: “Mr. Prime Minister, the record in your office should reflect that in May 2016, when Shaheed Nijjar was falsely accused by India of running a “terror camp” in Mission, BC, Nijjar wrote you a letter in which he unequivocally stated that ‘Mr. Prime Minister, I want to bring it to your attention that the Indian government’s campaign to label me a terrorist started when I actively participated in a campaign to collect signatures on a complaint to the United Nations Human Rights Council. I am a Sikh nationalist who believes in and supports Sikhs’ right to self- determination and independence of Indian-occupied Punjab through a future referendum.”
Following Nijjar’s murder, we publicly raised alarm about our belief that the Indian government was involved in, and responsible for, his killing. Finally, on September 18, 2023, Prime Minister Trudeau publicly on the floor of the House said what had long been known by the Sikh community – that the Indian government was behind the assassination of Shaheed Nijjar.
The SFJ letter said: “We agree with the Prime Minister’s statement in the House of Commons that ‘any involvement of a foreign government in the killing of a Canadian citizen on Canadian soil is an unacceptable violation of our sovereignty. It is contrary to the fundamental rules by which free, open, and democratic societies conduct themselves. Such a flagrant violation of Canadian sovereignty demands swift and decisive action on the part of our government. Only the expulsion of India’s High Commissioner in Canada, Sanjay Kumar Verma, will adequately convey Canada’s forceful disapprobation of India’s blatant violation of our sovereignty and attack upon the Canadian people’s life and liberty.
“High Commissioner Verma, as the head of India’s mission in Canada, must be held accountable for Nijjar’s assassination, which in every sense is an act of state terrorism by India. The assassination of a Canadian citizen by India on Canadian soil is an unprecedented and unconscionable attack on Canada’s sovereignty and on the lives and liberties of all Canadians. Merely expelling a low-level diplomatic agent, as Canada has done, falls far short of effectively responding to this violation. Failing to take further action sends the message to the rest of the world that Canada takes such criminal activity lightly. We urge your government to respond in the only appropriate manner by expelling High Commissioner Verma pursuant to appropriate diplomatic and consular protocol.”
Gurpatwant Singh Pannun in his letter to the PM reminded that Verma has a history of Sikh hatred and since taking his position in Canada over a year ago, he has been lying about Sikhs and passing hate-filled remarks against them.
SFJ letter concludes: “We are calling on the Canadian government to decisively and unequivocally assert its sovereignty and protect the safety and security of all citizens. It must send the clear message that the involvement of a foreign government in the planned and deliberate murder of a Canadian citizen on Canadian soil is completely and utterly unacceptable. The only action that will send that message is immediately expelling High Commissioner Verma.
