Good morning. Wendy Cox in Vancouver this morning.
Friday marks the 38th anniversary of the bombing of Air India Flight 182, Canada’s worst terrorist attack and one of the worst in the world. The disaster, which killed all 329 on board, still remains unsolved.
Next month, July 14, will mark a year since one of the men accused and later acquitted in that horrific act of mass murder was himself killed. Ripudaman Singh Malik was shot just before 9:30 a.m. and died at the scene in Surrey on a block where he owned a business. Two men who were out on bail on other offences were charged with murder two weeks later.
Now, the Sikh community in Surrey is once again gripped with grief, anger and intrigue after the president of the Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara, one of Canada’s largest Sikh temples, was gunned down in the parking lot of the facility.
Hours before he was killed, Hardeep Singh Nijjar told gurdwara congregants on Sunday that advocating for Sikh rights in the Indian state of Punjab was treacherous work.
“The coming time is very dangerous,” Mr. Nijjar said in Punjabi in a speech that was videotaped. “We have to understand this.”
Mr. Nijjar, who had been accused by India’s National Investigation Agency of being a terrorist, had privately confided in friends that he had been warned by CSIS, Canada’s spy agency, that he was targeted for violence. His lawyer, Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, confirmed that in a statement Tuesday.
His lawyer said in a written statement that Mr. Nijjar spoke with his friend by phone the day before he was killed. Both believed their work organizing an international referendum calling for the Punjab to secede from India had put their safety at risk. The NIA, India’s counterterrorism body, last July offered a reward of one million rupees – worth about CAD$16,000 – for information leading to Mr. Nijjar’s arrest or apprehension.
“Nijjar was neither involved in nor convicted for any criminal or violent activity ever, in fact, in 2016 Canadian law enforcement authorities after thorough investigation found no evidence supporting India’s allegations against Nijjar being involved in violent or criminal activities in India or elsewhere,” Mr. Pannun said in the statement.
Reporter Colin Freeze also uncovered court documents that showed Mr. Nijjar had been involved in a dispute with Mr. Malik. Mr. Malik ran a society that took Mr. Nijjar to court in an effort to force Mr. Nijjar to return equipment used to print sacred Sikh texts. At the heart of the issue was questions over who had the authority to print those texts.
“I don’t think this is the end of this,” said Dave Hayer, whose journalist father was killed in 1998 after a career that included blistering criticism of Sikh extremists. No one has ever been charged in his death.
“People are willing to settle scores in public by shooting,” said his son, a former BC Liberal MLA. That means “there might be other people who try to retaliate.”
Reporter Nancy Macdonald spent Monday and Tuesday at the gurdwara and of the dozen people she spoke to, all blamed the Indian government for Mr. Nijjar’s death.
“There is more rage in the community right now than fear,” said Prabh Singh.
Mr. Singh said the killing on the grounds of the temple was a deliberate effort to terrorize an entire community.
“The gurdwara is a second home for Sikhs. The killers chose this place so people are scared and feel unsafe, so we feel we are safe nowhere,” he said.
“When something so devastating happens, your ability to think is suspended. I feel a lot of things, but I can’t call that thinking. We are devastated right now.”
This is the weekly Western Canada newsletter written by B.C. Editor Wendy Cox and Alberta Bureau Chief Mark Iype. If you’re reading this on the web, or it was forwarded to you from someone else, you can sign up for it and all Globe newsletters here.
Wendy Cox