What do we know about Nijjar’s murder?
Nijjar was shot dead outside the Sikh temple where he had served as president on Jun 18 in Surrey, a Vancouver suburb with a large Sikh population.
He suffered multiple gunshot wounds and died at the scene.
His killing marked the second prominent member of the Sikh community in Canada to be murdered in two years.
Ripudaman Singh Malik, a Sikh businessman who was acquitted in connection with the 1985 Air India bombing that killed more than 300 people, was shot dead on Jul 14 last year.
A lawyer and spokesperson for Sikhs For Justice, Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, said Nijjar had been a target of threats due to his activism.
Pannun said he had spoken to Nijjar by phone the day before his murder and that Nijjar had told him that Canadian intelligence had warned him that his life was at risk.
How has the assassination impacted India-Canada relations?
Relations between Canada and India soured following the Sikh leader’s assassination and ensuing protests in Canada.
Canada said on Monday that there were “credible allegations” that agents linked to New Delhi were responsible for the murder of Nijjar.
Trudeau also said in an emergency statement to the House of Commons that any involvement of a foreign government in the killing of a Canadian citizen was “an unacceptable violation of our sovereignty”.
He said he had raised the murder directly with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the sidelines of the G20 summit in New Delhi last week, and urged the government of India to “cooperate with Canada to get to the bottom of this matter”.
“Canada has declared its deep concerns to the top intelligence and security officials of the Indian government. Last week at the G20 I brought them personally and directly to Prime Minister Modi in no uncertain terms,” he said.
Canada also expelled India’s top intelligence agent in the country on Monday, Foreign Minister Melanie Joly said, without providing details.
India dismissed the accusation as “absurd and motivated” and in a tit-for-tat move, said it was expelling a Canadian diplomat.
The government of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi also said the leader had “completely rejected” Canada’s assertions in the unsolved slaying.
New Delhi also urged Canada instead to take legal action against anti-Indian elements operating from its soil.
Modi had conveyed his strong concerns to Trudeau at the G20 summit over recent demonstrations in Canada by Sikhs calling for an independent state.
The Indian government accuses Ottawa of turning a blind eye to the activities of radical Sikh nationalists who advocate the creation of an independent Sikh state to be carved out of northern India.
In a sign of the simmering crisis, Ottawa recently suspended negotiations for a free-trade agreement with India, and last week the minister of trade cancelled a trip to the country planned for October.
Source: CNA
