Sikh leaders from North America meet in Surrey, B.C., in wake of killing

Accusations that India is behind the homicide of Surrey Gurdwara president Hardeep Singh Nijjar are reverberating across the continent, prompting  Sikh leaders to meet in Surrey on Saturday.

Sikh leaders from both Canada and the United States gathered at the Surrey Guru Nanak Gurdwara, the same Gurdwara where Nijjar was shot and killed at on June 18.

“(People have come from) Washington state, Toronto and New York. Everyone is kind of converging here,” B.C. Gurdwaras Council’s Moninder Singh said.

About 250 people attended the meeting on Saturday.

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“This is unprecedented in terms of what we’re responding to today,” said Prabjot Singh, an Edmonton Sikh leader.

They have gathered to discuss next moves and to demand action regarding the killing of Nijjar.

“People need to understand what we should do next (and) where we should go from here,” said Jatinder Singh Grewal, a Sikhs for Justice member from New York.

Community leaders have created a list of four demands they’ll send to the federal government.

“One of the demands is putting forward an immediate freeze or elimination of the intelligence-sharing agreements between Canada and India,” Moninder Singh said.

Nijjar was a vocal supporter of the independent Sikh state of Khalistan. The Indian government considered him a terrorist and put a bounty on his head.

Earlier this month, bombshell allegations from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the federal government said that his death is potentially linked to agents of the Indian government.

So far, no one has been arrested.

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Another one of the demands from the Sikh leaders is to ensure the killers are caught.

“We know there was a warning given to Hardeep Singh and a number of activists more than a year ago, yet this assassination was carried out,” Prabjot Singh said.

“Where does the fault and responsibility lie with Canadian agencies and policymakers?”

Karmji Singh, from Seattle, said there is fear more attacks will take place if something doesn’t change soon.

“We have so many relatives here, and we also worried about their safety and security,” he said.

The vocal Sikh leaders said the community as a whole will be pushing for federal government action.