Surrey, a sprawling suburban sanctuary in British Columbia, Canada, known for its family neighbourhoods and tree-lined streets, harbours more than just quiet living.
It's also the heart of a vibrant Sikh community and home to some of the most prominent gurdwaras in North America. Among these stands the Guru Nanak Sikh gurdwara, a beacon of faith for over 150,000 Sikhsabout 12% of the city's 1.2 million residents. Founded in 1970, this gurdwara, nestled along Scott Road between 70th and 72nd Avenue, is steeped in history.
But on the evening of 18 June 2023, its legacy would be marked by an event that would shake India-Canada relations to their core.
Outwardly, the day unfolded with the usual suburban tranquillity. A warm breeze drifted lazily through the streets, a football game played out nearby, and traffic on Scott Road moved unhurriedly. But a storm was about to break inside the gurdwara's parking lot, where Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a 45-year-old Khalistani activist, who was also the head of the gurdwara, sat behind the wheel of his grey pickup truck. Seemingly from nowhere, two hooded gunmen suddenly appeared by his side and opened fire, the bullets shattering the glass and piercing Nijjar's body. The gunmen fled in a waiting car, leaving Nijjar's lifeless form slumped in the driver's seat. But the embers lit on that fateful day were to transcend the confines of what was a gangland killing and create ripples that would ignite tensions across continents and rupture relations between India and Canada.
Who was Nijjar? Born in 1977 in Punjab, Nijjar moved to Canada in 1997 to work as a plumber. He was initially associated with the Babbar Khalsa International (BKI), a Sikh separatist organisation which the National Investigation Agency has listed as a terrorist group, believed to be funded by Pakistan's InterServices Intelligence (ISI).
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