FBI HAD WARNED AMERICAN SIKH ACTIVISTS ABOUT DEATH THREATS AFTER NIJJAR’S KILLING IN CANADA

Mon 25 September 2023:

New Delhi: After Canadian Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar was killed on June 19 this year, officials from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) warned Sikh activists in the US about a potential threat to their lives, the Intercept reported.

Pritpal Singh, a political activist and American citizen who is a coordinator for the American Sikh Caucus Committee, has alleged that he and two other Sikh-Americans involved in political organising in California received calls and visits from the FBI after Nijjar was killed.

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“I was visited by two FBI special agents in late June who told me that they had received information that there was a threat against my life,” said Singh. “They did not tell us specifically where the threat was coming from, but they said that I should be careful.”

The two other Sikh activists, who asked to remain anonymous for security reasons, also told the Intercept that they were visited by the FBI around the same time as Singh. The FBI did not respond to the Intercept’s request for comment.

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These warnings from the US law enforcement agency have become even more critical in the context of Canada accusing India of killing a Canadian citizen on their soil.

The US has expressed concerns over the allegations and is cooperating with Canada in its investigation of India’s role in Nijjar’s killing. In a statement this week, U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan said that India does not have “special exemption” to carry out actions like extrajudicial killings, for which the US criticises rival countries like Russia and China, the Intercept reported.

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According to a New York Times report, US intelligence agencies also offered their Canadian counterparts “context that helped Canada conclude that India had been involved in Nijjar’s killing.

Meanwhile, Sikh activists in the US have asked for support from the Biden administration.

“If India can target Canadians, Americans will be next,” Singh said. “This undermines our democratic institutions, curtails individual rights and freedoms, and challenges the national security and sovereignty of the United States.”

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“From the Biden administration, we expect immediate support,” he added. “We do not want thoughts and prayers later.”

Though the Khalistan movement does not have many supporters in India, separatists in the West have continued to fight for the cause, bringing them in frequent conflict with the Indian government, the Intercept report said.

India has accused Sikh separatists in the West, many of whom are Western citizens, of fomenting terrorism in India, threatening its diplomats, and endangering its consulates and foreign offices.

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“The Khalistan movement today enjoys very little support in Punjab,” Arjun Sethi, a human rights lawyer and law professor at Georgetown University, told the Intercept. “Yet the Indian government continues to inflate its significance in order to galvanize their voter base, distract from their domestic failings, and further their national security agenda,” he added.