KHALISTAN EXTREMISM MONITOR
A project of the Institute for Conflict Management
A project of the Institute for Conflict Management
Name: Hardeep Singh Nijjar
Aliases: Nijjar
Gender: Male
Date of Birth: 11-Oct-1977
Place of Birth: Bhar Singh Pura in Jalandhar district, Punjab
Citizenship: Canada
Current Residence: 12551, 89-A AVE, Surrey, BC-1A9, Canada
Organizational Affiliations: Babbar Khalsa International (BKI),Khalistan Tiger Force (KTF)
Current Position: ‘chief’ of KTF
Criminal Record/Court Cases/Charges:
A native of harsinghpur
in Jalandhar District, Nijjar is currently based in Surrey, Canada. He
reportedly worked as a plumber and according to media reports, he was elected
unopposed to head the Guru Nanak Sikh Gurudwara in Surrey, Canada. He has
visited Pakistan in 2013-14 to meet with Jagtar Singh Tara of KTF, who was arrested from
Thailand in 2015, and Pakistan’s ISI. He also organized a training camp for
Khalistani militants in Missigen Hills in British Colombia in December 2015 in
which small arms training was imparted. Nijjar is actively involved in training
KTF militants and operationalizing them in India.
In 2010, Punjab Police
had filed a FIR against Nijjar for his involvement in an explosion near Satya
Narayan temple in Patiala. Separately, in 2015 another FIR was filed against
him for plotting to kill religious leaders. Later in 2016 another FIR was filed
for organizing training camp in Canada in December 2015. A Look out Circular
(LOC) and a Red Corner Notice (RCN) were also lodged against him in 2015 and
2016. Although Canadian authorities had briefly detained him in April 2018, he
was released without any charges being filed.
| Incident Date | Incident | Civilian Killed | Military Killed | Security Force Killed | Civilian Injured | Military Injured | Security Force Injured | Civilian Abducted | Military Abducted | Security Force Abducted |
| 01-Jul-2020 | Government of India declared nine individuals, including pro-Khalistani leader and the key member of banned outfit Sikhs For Justice (SFJ), Gurpatwant Singh Pannun as terrorists under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act [UAPA]. Pannun, who organized the Khalistan 2020 referendum, has been seen actively running a campaign against India and motivating Sikh youngsters in his home state of Punjab to join militancy. The others who have been designated by the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (UMHA) as individual terrorists under the UAPA include Paramjit Singh (Babbar Khalsa International), Hardeep Singh Nijjar (Khalistan Tiger Force), Gurmit Singh Bagga (Khalistan Zindabad Force), Wadhawa Singh Babbar (Babbar Khalsa International), Lakhbir Singh (International Sikh Youth Federation), Ranjeet Singh (Khalistan Zindabad Force), Paramjit Singh (Khalistan Commando Force), Bhupinder Singh Bhinda (Khalistan Zindabad Force). Following an amendment in the UAPA recently, the UMHA declared a total of 13 persons as individual terrorists till date. In an official statement the U said, “These individuals are involved in various acts of terrorism from across the border and from foreign soil. They have been relentless in their nefarious efforts of destabilising the country, by trying to revive militancy in Punjab through their anti-national activities and through their support to and involvement in the Khalistan Movement.” | |||||||||
| 31-May-2020 | According to reports, the pro-Khalistan group, Sikhs for Justice (SFJ) and their activities has been earning criticisms across several nations and this is evident from various incidents that are taking place in recent times. The latest is an ugly incident at the Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara Surrey, BC Canada where Hardip Singh Nijjar, President of the gurdwara was involved in a brawl. Sukhi Chahal, CEO and chairman of California-based JDS Unified LLC said that “In a May 28, 2020 tweet, one of my latest questions put to Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, self-styled Legal Adviser of so-called 'Sikhs For Justice' (SFJ) was to comment on the recent reported fight between Hardeep Nijjar and others at Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara Surrey, BC Canada.” He said, “Hardeep Nijjar is learnt to be a ‘proclaimed Offender’ and a wanted criminal in India." “I fail to understand why such criminals are at all allowed to enter other countries and granted asylums as in Nijjar’s case. How do such criminals manage to occupy important positions of Gurdwaras abroad?”, asked Chahal. | |||||||||
| 10-Jul-2019 | The Government of India banned the pro-Khalistan radical group, Sikhs For Justice (SFJ) for five years and declared it as an “unlawful association” under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. The US-based secessionist outfit with the primary objective of establishing an independent and sovereign country has its top leadership based in US, UK and Canada, with just 8-10 active members and negligible support base in India. SFJ enjoys strong online presence through social media accounts run in its own name or by its leaders — main promoter Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, a New York-based attorney, apart from Hardip Singh Nijjar and Paramjit Singh Pamma who are principal proponents of “Referendum 2020” in Canada and UK respectively. A senior Union Ministry of Home Affairs (UMHA) official said all the major Sikh bodies consulted ahead of the five-year ban had supported the action and that the Centre had largely relied on the “material” sent by Punjab Government to impose the ban. |