US warned Sikh-Americans of death threats after Canadian activist killing: report
World
US warned Sikh-Americans of death threats after Canadian activist killing: report
NEW YORK (APP) - The United States reportedly warned Sikh-American activists residing mainly in the state of California to be watchful in the wake of the brazen killing in June of a Sikh leader allegedly by agents of the Indian government.
According to The Intercept, an online American news organisation, agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), a domestic intelligence agency, visited several Sikh activists in California this summer with an “alarming” message: ‘Their lives were also at risk’.
The Intercept said the warnings have taken on a new urgency after Canada’s bombshell revelation Monday that it has credible intelligence pointing to Indian government involvement in the assassination of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a Canadian citizen and advocate for an independent Sikh state, who was shot dead outside a Sikh temple in British Columbia.
Pritpal Singh, a political activist and US citizen who is a coordinator for the American Sikh Caucus Committee, was quoted as saying by The Intercept that he and two other Sikh-Americans involved in political organizing in California received calls and visits from the FBI after Nijjar was killed.
“I was visited by two FBI special agents in late June who told me that they had received information that there was a threat against my life,” said Singh. “They did not tell us specifically where the threat was coming from, but they said that I should be careful.”
The two other Sikh activists, who asked to remain anonymous for security reasons, told The Intercept that they were also visited by the FBI around the same time as Pritpal Singh.
The FBI did not respond to a request for comment, the news outlet said.
Sikhs throughout the US have received police warnings about potential threats, said Sukhman Dhami, co-director of Ensaaf, a California-based nonprofit group that focuses on human rights in India, particularly in the Sikh-majority state of Punjab.
“We have also received messages that certain community leaders associated with politics of Sikh self-determination have recently been visited by law enforcement and warned that they may be targets,” Dhami told The Intercept.
On Thursday, a report from the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation revealed that Canada determined India’s culpability in the Nijjar killing based on signals and human intelligence, including the communications of Indian diplomats in Canada and information from an unnamed partner in the Five Eyes intelligence alliance comprising the US, Canada, the UK, New Zealand and Australia. Earlier this week, Canada expelled a top Indian diplomat who was the head of the Indian intelligence agency in the country.
India has rejected the allegations as “absurd” and in turn accused Canada of patronising Sikh militant and extremist groups. India on Thursday issued a call for information about protesters who allegedly tried to start a fire at the Indian consulate in San Francisco earlier this year.
The US has expressed concern over the allegations, and Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Friday that the US is cooperating with Canada in its investigation.
In a statement this week, US national security adviser Jake Sullivan said that India does not have “special exemption” to carry out actions like extrajudicial killings, for which the US criticises rival countries like Russia and China.
The US is India’s largest trading partner — a relationship worth orders of magnitude more than Canada-India trade ties. “Any targeted action by India on US soil against Sikh dissidents could open a rift between the two countries as they build a coalition to confront China,” The Intercept said.
Sikh-Americans who have received threats say they are not intimidated but want the US government to take steps to protect them and stand up against what they characterize as an “increasingly aggressive and authoritarian” Indian government led by right-wing Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
“If India can target Canadians, Americans will be next,” Singh said. “This undermines our democratic institutions, curtails individual rights and freedoms, and challenges the national security and sovereignty of the United States.”
“From the Biden administration, we expect immediate support,” he added. “We do not want thoughts and prayers later.”
Before Nijjar was killed in June, Canadian intelligence officials warned him and five other Sikh community leaders that their lives were in danger, said Moninder Singh, a spokesperson for the British Columbia Gurdwaras Council who was among those issued warnings, according to The Intercept.
“They told us that we were at imminent risk of assassination, but they would never say specifically that the threat was from Indian intelligence or give us enough information to tell us where it was coming from,” said Singh.
