Indian foreign interference protests continue outside court case for men accused of killing Surrey Sikh leader

A high-profile murder case that has strained relations between Canada and India resumed in Surrey Provincial Court Tuesday morning. 

The case concerns Sikh leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar, who died in June last year when he was shot to death in his pickup truck at Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara in Surrey, where he was president. 

The hearings over the past few months have been mostly procedural, and Tuesday morning proved no different. Crown counsel said it’s still gathering disclosure documents, and there are at least 10,000 pages of disclosure already on the table, with more submissions to the court still expected. 

CityNews has learned the next hearing will likely be mostly administrative again.

Karan Brar, Kamalpreet Singh, Karanpreet Singh, and Amandeep Singh were arrested earlier this year and charged with first-degree murder and conspiracy to kill Nijjar. The accused didn’t appear in court Tuesday. 

Nijjar’s many supporters have been following the case and were stationed in front of the court once again Tuesday, waving Khalistan flags, and alleging that India is responsible for the murder.

Nijjar was an outspoken advocate for Khalistan — the movement for an independent Sikh state in India.

The case has frayed Canada-India relations since Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said there was credible intelligence linking Nijjar’s death to the Indian government.

Moninder Singh with the B.C. Gurdwara’s Council says that Sikh Canadians that advocate for Khalistan may face danger.

“We’re looking towards Canada, its intelligence agencies, its law enforcement, its public safety, [asking,] ‘what will they do to protect those freedoms of speech, freedom of expression that guaranteed in the charter of rights?’ ‘How far will we allow other countries to come here and suppress other citizens here from speaking out?’ I think there’s not a sense of fear, I would say this doesn’t scare us, and it won’t limit our movement. But at the same time, there is a realization that the cause of speaking out against India could result in violence against us.”

Moninder Singh expressed the group’s fears that Indian foreign interference is already active within Canada and B.C.

“Any politician that’s showing an outward over affinity towards India — defending them in the public eye — those are the ones that we’re concerned about. People will have relationships. India’s a partner to Canada. We understand all that, but it can’t be a partnership at the loss of life or bloodshed of Canadian citizens and Sikh Canadians here.”

Last year, India’s foreign ministry rejected Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s allegations of India’s involvement in the slaying of Nijjar as “absurd and motivated.”

Court proceedings are scheduled to resume on Nov. 21.

—With files from Charlie Carey and The Associated Press