After the death of a prominent Sikh leader in Canada, the once-dead Khalistan movement has once again resurfaced.
The Indian media have tried to blame Pakistan for the death of Hardeep Singh Nijjar in June 2023, which has raised questions online.
According to several Indian news websites like Organizer, Livemint, and Indiatoday, Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence assassinated Nijjar to strain the relationship between India and Canada.
In this article, we’ll talk about why Pakistan is not behind Hardeep Singh Nijjar’s killing?
Who was Hardeep Singh Nijjar?
Hardeep Singh Nijjar was a prominent Sikh separatist leader based in Canada. He was fatally shot and killed outside a Sikh temple in a Vancouver suburb in June by two gunmen.
Nijjar was labeled a terrorist by India and had been accused of heading the Khalistan Tiger Force, a militant group banned by India.
Nijjar settled in British Columbia, Canada, and had been a furious advocate of a separate state since he arrived in 1997.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau accused the Indian government of orchestrating the killing.
Indian media blamed Pakistan’s ISI
Prominent Indian news websites were quick to capitalize on the event and started a disinformation campaign against Pakistan.
The Indian media pointed out how two Pakistani officers were involved in the killing.
The propaganda was brushed aside as the world’s powerful intelligence (five eyes) had already assessed and had asked India to cooperate.
The right-wing Organizer falsely claimed that Pakistan had already stationed military officers in Nijjar’s neighborhood.
The news agencies didn’t provide a single piece of evidence except citing unknown “sources,” which we know means what in the world of fake news.
Why Pakistan didn’t kill Nijjar
Let us shed light on possible reasons why Pakistan couldn’t have orchestrated Nijjar’s killing.
1) Five-Eyes accused India
Shortly after the row escalated, the US ambassador to Canada, David Cohen said Five-Eyes provided the information regarding Nijjar’s death.
Five Eyes is an intelligence-sharing alliance of five countries, i.e., Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the UK, and the US.
This clearly shows that Pakistan has no stake whatsoever in the entire saga. If Pakistan was involved, the Five Eyes wouldn’t have hesitated to blame Pakistan, as India are much closer to them than Pakistan. Furthermore, why would the group of five countries falsely accuse India instead of Pakistan?
2) Pakistan’s situation
Furthermore, the fragile situation in Pakistan wouldn’t allow any such overseas operation, knowing that the world’s top intelligence agencies would investigate the issue.
This begs many more questions, like why would Pakistan target a country when it can’t fund its operations inside Pakistan?
Pakistan is facing one of its worst political and economic crises back home, with sky-high inflation. Pakistan knows the cost it’ll have to pay if it is found guilty.
3) The murder of Sikhs elsewhere
In June, Avtar Singh Khanda, another prominent Sikh leader, died mysteriously in the UK. Avtar died of terminal cancer, but the circumstances of Avatar’s death were described as “mysterious,” as per Al-Jazeera.
Paramjit Singh Panjwar, head of the Khalistan Commando Force, was gunned down by unknown men in Lahore this May.
Rapoodman Singh Malik was assassinated by two gunmen in Surrey, B.C., Canada.
The multi-millionaire businessman and separatist leader was acquitted of the 1985 Air India bombings, Canada’s worst mass murder.
Conclusion
Based on the facts, there is no way anyone can point fingers at Pakistan’s intelligence services. Whether or not Pakistan supports the Khalistan movement is a different discussion.
But the Pakistani government can’t be involved in Nijjar’s death. Pakistan can’t afford to execute such an operation based on the evidence above.
