International intrigue

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: It’s Thursday the 14th of December, 2023.

This is WORLD Radio, and we’re glad to have you along today. Good morning, I’m Myrna Brown.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: And I’m Mary Reichard.

First up on The World and Everything in It. The killing of a political activist in Canada and the diplomatic breakdown that followed.

Here’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in September, followed by sound from a handful of news organizations.

TRUDEAU: Canadian security agencies have been actively pursuing credible allegations of a potential link between agents of the government of India and the killing of a Canadian citizen, Hardeep Singh Nijjar.

NBC NEWS: So this activist fought for an independent Sikh homeland in India. He was gunned down in his truck in June outside a temple.

AL JAZEERA: Canada has already expelled an Indian diplomat, a sign it believes the allegations are credible.

CBC NEWS: The reaction very blunt from India's External Affairs Ministry…

EURONEWS: An escalating row between Canada and India has seen diplomats from both countries expelled.

And then the week after Thanksgiving, U.S. prosecutors unsealed an indictment against an individual caught plotting to kill a Sikh separatist leader living in New York City.

BROWN: What’s behind these assassination attempts?

Joining us now to talk about it is WORLD’s Canadian Correspondent, Alexandra Ellison. She’s been following this story for World’s Global Desk.

Alexandra, good morning.

ALEXANDRA ELLISON: Good morning!

BROWN: Well, let’s start with some context. Who are the Sikhs and why is India at odds with them?

ELLISON: Yeah, so Sikhs are followers of Sikhism, which is part of a religious minority actually in India making about 2% of the population. And the history can trace back to some of the conflicts that happened in 1984. The Indian government did something called Operation Blue Star, where they had military actions ordered against Sikh militants who were fortified in the Golden Temple in Amritsar. So this led to large casualties and conflicts where two Sikh bodyguards even ended up killing the current prime minister at the time.

So Sikhs are a minority. So they had this idea where they want to create a separate state in Punjab, called Khalistan. And this idea has largely been popularized within Western countries. So we see that there's a large Sikh diaspora in Canada and the United States. So this this movement has become popularized there. They're more or less A little less so within India itself.

BROWN: It seems to me, that there are two major figures in the news right now. The first one is Hardeep Singh Nijjar. He was killed in Canada in June, and Prime Minister Trudeau alleged the Indian government had something to do with it. Who was he, and how does he fit into this?

ELLISON: Hardeep Singh Nijjar was the chief coordinator in the Canadian chapter of the Sikhs for Justice, which is an advocacy group, advocating for this independent state of Khalistan. And the problem is, is that many times, the Indian government will get confused with, you know, the work that Nijjar was doing was peaceful, just advocating trying to promote this idea of having a separate state. Yet, there's groups like Babbar Khalsa, which, you know, committed a large terrorist attack against an Air India plane, which is one of the largest terrorist attacks in Canadian history. So India has overall just said any Sikh separatist group is identified as a terrorist group.

BROWN: The second major figure is Gurpatwant Singh Pannun. Who is he and why did Indian government officials allegedly target him?

ELLISON: Pannun is a Sikh separatist leader as well, in New York City working for the same organization that Nijjar was working for, Sikhs for Justice, and the Indian government has him listed as a terrorist, even though the work that he does is peaceful. And he has been a large advocate for the movement, he plans to have a vote happening this coming January in San Francisco where he'll get a group of Sikhs together and they will vote for this idea of having a separate state called Khalistan. But although this vote is important, and it would show that there's people that want this idea, it wouldn't actually do anything. It's more just to show the Indian government that this is what some people want.

BROWN: So of course, as you said earlier, Nijjar lost his life in June, and then Pannun was targeted. Alexandra, you had the chance to interview Pannun this past week and you asked him if he fears for his life:

PANNUN: The underlying question is—is not the threat that I’m facing. I don’t fear death. The underlying issue is the existential threat that the Sikh community is facing under these successive regimes.

For now, the immediate threat to Pannun’s life has been averted, but how did the United States thwart the plot to kill him?

So of course, as you said, Nijjar lost his life earlier this year. How did the United States hinder the plot to kill Pannun?

ELLISON: In May, Nikhil Gupta, who is an Indian national, he was living in India, he was recruited by an unidentified Indian government official, the indictment doesn't name the specific name, and this was to orchestrate the assassination of Pannun. So the indictment said that Gupta has criminal charges against him, and that if he were to complete this killing, then he would have the criminal charges dropped, and he'd also receive financial compensation. So Gupta ended up accepting the deal and he contacted a criminal associate to try to find a hitman. But it happened to be an undercover Drug Enforcement Association agent who was posing as the hitman. So what Gupta thought was him communicating to a hitman was actually the DEA receiving information on how to catch him. So this led to his arrest in the Czech Republic where he's now awaiting extradition to the US.

BROWN: Alexandra Ellison is a WORLD Correspondent in Canada’s capital city of Ottawa. Thank you for covering this story for us!

ELLISON: Thanks for having me.

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