Der Sikh-Separatisten-Attentatsplan

In the spring of 2023, the Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar was killed in the parking lot of the gurdwara where he worshipped, on the outskirts of Vancouver. Nijjar had been the temple’s president for four years, and had spent much of that time advocating for the creation of a homeland for Sikhs, called Khalistan, in an area of northern India that mostly comprises Punjab. The separatist movement has inspired generations of activists and infuriated the country’s leadership.

Canadian law enforcement suspected that the killing was the result of a plot orchestrated by the Indian government, whose history of violence against Sikh separatists stretches back four decades. For months, officials had been meeting regularly with Nijjar, warning him about potential threats to his life. U.S. intelligence agencies, too, had been monitoring the situation. About a week later, the Czech police, acting on U.S. intelligence, arrested a 51-year-old Indian national named Nikhil Gupta, in the Prague airport. Gupta, the Department of Justice later claimed, had a history of international narcotics and weapons trafficking, and was involved not just in Nijjar’s murder but also in “an alleged plot, directed by an employee of the Indian government, to target and assassinate a U.S. citizen for his support of the Sikh separatist movement.” The citizen was Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, a friend of Nijjar’s. 

Gupta has pleaded not guilty, and his case is currently in pre-trial hearings in the Southern District of New York. The evidence that has been released thus far suggests an Indian-backed, transnational campaign of espionage and violence aimed at a handful of American and Canadian citizens. Read Taran Dugal’s full report: [https://www.newyorker.com/news/the-lede/the-sikh-separatist-assassination-plot](https://www.newyorker.com/news/the-lede/the-sikh-separatist-assassination-plot)