Canada: second Sikh activist’s house hit by gunfire this month

The house of a Sikh activist in Canada has been hit by gunfire, in the second such incident this month, reigniting fears of an apparent transnational campaign of violence and intimidation targeting Sikh separatists. A construction crew found a bullet hole in a window of an unfinished house in the city of Brampton, Ontario, on Monday, according to the the US-based group Sikhs for Justice. The property belongs to Inderjit Singh Gosal, a vocal proponent of a decades-long but now fringe demand to carve out an independent Sikh homeland from India, named Khalistan. Peel Regional police confirmed one bullet hole had been found, and said they could not rule out more shots had been fired at the house. Constable Tyler Bell-Morena said no injuries were reported and that it was “too early” to link the shooting to Gosal’s role in the Khalistan movement, though the criminal investigations unit were aware of his activism. The shooting came after Gosal announced that the pro-Khalistan movement would hold a rally outside the Indian consulate in Toronto on 17 February. Gosal works closely with Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, the recent target of a foiled assassination attempt in the US. Pannun, who lives in Washington, serves as the chief legal counsel for Sikhs for Justice. The Khalistan separatist movement has received immense attention in recent months after the Canadian activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar was shot and killed in a parking lot in suburban Vancouver – an assassination Canada later linked to the Indian government. India has rejected Canada’s allegations, and relations between the two countries remain strained. A global pressure campaign by India has done little to dampen activism in Canada, with groups organizing fresh rounds of symbolic referendums and rallies. “No amount of threats and violence can stop me from advocating for the liberation of Punjab from Indian occupation. I have been heading Khalistan freedom rallies in front of the Indian consulate and I have been targeted for the same very reason that Nijjar was assassinated by Indian agents, ie our campaigning for the Khalistan referendum,” Gosal said in a statement. “This firing [sic] has absolutely been orchestrated by the Indian spy network operating from diplomatic missions in Canada headed by the Indian High Commissioner [Sanjay] Verma.” Monday’s shooting marks the second time the house of a prominent activist has been targeted. On 1 February, at least two people opened fire on the house of Simranjeet Singh in the British Columbia city of Surrey. According to the British Columbia Gurdwaras Council, Singh was a close associate of Hardeep Singh Nijjar. Despite multiple members of Singh’s being home at the time, no one was injured. The shooting came days after Singh helped organize a pro-Khalistan protest at the Indian consulate in Vancouver. Last week, police arrested two 16-year-olds in relation to the shooting.