BC Sikh Gurdwara Council president says he’s received death threats

After the daytime killing of a Sikh leader at a gurdwara in Surrey earlier this month, the president of the BC Sikh Gurdwara Council says his life has also been threatened.

Moninder Singh tells CityNews sister station OMNI News that after Ripudaman Singh Malik was killed last year, police told him he may be assassinated.

Singh says four others were also warned, but none were offered protection.

He thinks anyone whose life is in danger should be allowed to wear body armour with a permit.

“An average citizen should be allowed the permit in this type of situation as is evident by what happened to Hardeep Singh Nijjar who was also 1 of the 5 warned last year and continuously warned by security agencies that his life was in danger but no steps were offered or available to protect his life,” Singh said.

However, former B.C. Solicitor General Kash Heed says that’s not for private citizens.

“Very few people will qualify for that. Of course, police officers, security guards, and any law enforcement official, they’re exempt from the law, but a private citizen cannot,” he explained.

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Heed says for private citizens, there are many other steps that could be taken before personal protection.

“When you’re looking at security precautions against someone that their life is under threat, there’s so many things you have to do and primary to that is removing yourself from that environment.”

Singh’s claims of death threats come after Hardeep Singh Nijjar, the president of the Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara, was gunned down in the gurdwara’s parking lot.

Nijjar was killed in what many in the Sikh community believe to be a targeted shooting linked to foreign interference. Police have denied that claim, adding investigators have no reasons to believe that the Sikh community in Canada is at risk.

In connection with Nijjar’s death, homicide investigators are still looking to identify two witnesses in connection with the incident.

Heed adds that giving folks body armour will not solve the root of the problem.

“This is not the panacea to their particular problem. Giving them a bulletproof vest? Absolutely not,” he said.

–With files from Prahbjot Kahlon, OMNI News