Who was murdered Surrey Sikh leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar?

On the evening of June 18, Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a prominent Sikh leader in B.C., was gunned down in his grey truck in the parking lot of Surrey’s Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara.

His lawyer, Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, told Postmedia that Nijjar had been warned by the Canadian Security Intelligence Service of threats against him because of his political activism. Nijjar had been helping organize a referendum for local Sikhs on Khalistan, part of an unofficial and non-binding worldwide vote by the group Sikhs for Justice.

India had accused Nijjar of terrorism-related activities in the past. It has described Nijjar as a member of the Khalistan Tiger Force, which the Indian government considers a terrorist group.

In 2016, New Delhi alleged Nijjar was linked to a 2007 bombing at a Punjab cinema that killed six. Last year, India’s counterterrorism National Investigation Agency announced a $16,000 reward for information leading to his arrest in relation to a conspiracy to murder a Hindu priest.

Nijjar had said the allegations were false. “I am living here since 1997. I did not go back to India,” Nijjar told Postmedia reporter Kim Bolan in an interview last year. “I’m working hard as a plumber and at the temple. … I’m a community servant, right?”