One year anniversary of Sikh activist’s death remembered

Thousands of Sikhs from Canada and other countries traveled to Hardeep Singh Nijjar’s gurdwara in Surrey, British Columbia to pay their respects to him, marking the one-year anniversary of his death.

Last year on June 18, Nijjar, who was president of the temple, was shot and killed in the parking lot of the Guru Nanak Gurdwara. Nijjar was a major organizer of an international referendum on the creation of an independent Sikh state in India.

Sikh activist groups also held a rally and a “citizens’ court” outside the Indian consulate in Vancouver. 

CBC News reported a large crowd chanted back and forth and participated in a mock trial of the Indian government. 

The four Indian nationals, Karan Brar, Amandeep Singh, Kamalpreet Singh, and Karanpreet Singh, were charged with murder and conspiracy in the killing of Nijjar.

Furthermore, Canada’s Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, accused and linked the Indian government to Nijjar’s death.

The Indian Government continues to deny the allegations and association of the killing, stating that they do “not have a policy of assassinating people abroad.”

“If the allegations alleged by the Prime Minister are true, then a foreign nation has come to Canadian soil and murdered a Canadian citizen. That is a line that should never be crossed. And if not acted upon and is continued to be crossed it may cause a very volatile situation in Canada,” said Jatinder Singh Grewal, a B.C. director with Sikhs for Justice.

According to Global News, the four accused in the case are next scheduled to appear in court in Surrey on June 25.