On the morning of June 19, 2023, I was at home in Punjab, the northwestern state in India, enjoying a quiet day reporting for BBC Punjabi, when a journalist friend from Vancouver, Canada, called. His voice was tense. “A Sikh separatist leader has been shot dead,” he said. At first, I didn’t think much of it; every crime has a possible context. But within hours of the murder, it dawned on us that it was not just another routine killing. The assassination had taken place inside the complex of a gurdwara, a Sikh place of worship — a crime that is uncommon even in India, where about 87% of the world’s Sikhs reside.
The leader who was shot dead was Hardeep Singh Nijjar, the president of Guru Nanak Sikh Temple in the suburban city of Surrey, who had migrated from India to Canada in 1997 and was a plumber by profession. Since the temple was in Surrey, an important hub for the Sikh population in Canada, the incident sent shock waves through the community and globally. Sikh temples in the diaspora not only serve as houses of worship but also function as social and political hubs for Sikhs.
In 2020, the Indian government designated Nijjar as a “terrorist” who was allegedly involved in militant activities in India. Responding to a dossier delivered by Amarinder Singh, who was the chief minister of Punjab at the time, to former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau during a trip to India, Canada had put several Sikh separatists, including Nijjar, on the no-fly list. But despite these efforts, Nijjar stepped up his activism and would give fierce speeches at the Sikh temple in Surrey. In one of them, he said, “We will have to take up arms. … We will have to dance to the edges of swords.”
Three months after Nijjar’s death, Trudeau accused the Indian government of involvement in his killing. It was the first time a North American country had publicly accused India of involvement in transnational murder, which resulted in both countries expelling each other’s diplomats and temporarily suspending visa services. The strained relations between the two thawed only during the recent Group of Seven meeting in Canada.
Though Canada did not present any evidence to back its claims, in November 2023, when the U.S. Department of Justice unsealed an FBI indictment, it lent credence to the allegations of India’s involvement in Nijjar’s killing. It was an alleged assassination plot orchestrated by an Indian spy and another Indian national against Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, who heads Sikhs for Justice, a New York-based group that advocates for an independent state for Sikhs in Punjab, known as Khalistan. But the indictment also referred to Nijjar as a “target.”
Since Trudeau’s allegations, the focus of this incident has been on diplomatic affairs. Little has been written on its impact on the Sikh diaspora in North America, which includes nearly 800,000 Sikhs in Canada (the highest population of Sikhs outside India) and nearly 700,000 in the United States. Sikhs have a history of migration to the continent dating back over 150 years and are a prominent community with a strong hold in Canadian politics. Over 21 members of Canada’s Parliament are Punjabi, the majority of them Sikh.
Earlier this year — two years after Nijjar’s murder — I traveled to Canada to find out about its impact on the community. While some members have grown fearful and are reluctant to speak about the issue publicly, a new wave of young Sikhs, many of whom were previously less engaged with their religious identity or history, are now connecting with them more deeply and becoming increasingly active in advocating for the community.
Beyond international and Canadian media’s once-sporadic attention to the Sikh diaspora, there has been a noticeable shift in its tone and focus. Today, coverage not only appears more frequently but also frames the community through a lens of state surveillance and transnational repression. Earlier coverage of Khalistan activism typically invoked its alleged links to a 1985 Air India bombing — framing the diaspora more as a source of extremism than as a community facing threats.
The incident has also reopened decades-old wounds that trace back to a turbulent chapter in Indian history — the 1980s, when the Khalistan movement, calling for an independent Sikh state, began to gather momentum. It gained prominence after 1984, when former Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi launched Operation Bluestar against Sikh militants holed up in the Golden Temple, Sikhism’s holiest shrine, in Amritsar, Punjab.
The militants were led by the Sikh leader Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, a charismatic and polarizing figure who, after his death in the operation, became the posthumous face of the movement. It marked a turning point for the Sikh community because the storming of the temple shattered its sanctity, left hundreds dead and deepened a collective sense of betrayal and alienation from the Indian state.
Five months after that operation, when two Sikh bodyguards of Gandhi assassinated her in an act of revenge, it triggered anti-Sikh riots in the capital of New Delhi. More than 3,000 Sikhs were killed in mob attacks, homes and businesses were burned and families were displaced, further solidifying the mistrust. It was only in 2018 that an Indian court called the violence “a crime against humanity” and convicted a senior Congress party leader, Sajjan Kumar, for his role in the killings.
After the attacks, when many Sikhs emigrated to Canada and the U.S. for safety and asylum, the idea of Khalistan entered the diaspora. “The next generation of those victims got active in advocacy,” said Jagtar Singh, a historian and journalist who has been covering Sikh religion and politics in India for the last four decades. There would be organized commemorations and lobbying efforts, alongside a gradual politicization of diaspora spaces, whereby the memory of 1984 became central to identity formation and advocacy.
Although a segment of the Sikh diaspora remained vocal about the Khalistan cause after Punjab’s return to relative peace in 1995, their voices were amplified later with the emergence of social media. Organizations like Sikhs For Justice also started holding referendums in various cities of North America, Oceania and Europe in a bid to mobilize people.
Yet Khalistan also became a “business” for some, said Jagtar Singh. “In India, issuing certificates of being political sufferers to get asylum in Western countries, too, is business for some activists,” he said. He was referring to the practice by which individuals or groups assist asylum seekers by drafting letters or affidavits that claim they are victims of state persecution or political targeting, often in exchange for a fee. In some cases, these documents reflect genuine experiences; in others, the claims may be fabricated or exaggerated for profit.
Tensions between the Sikh separatists and the Indian government had been simmering over the years. But they escalated dramatically under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, especially in 2020 when farmers, many of them Sikh and primarily from the states of Punjab and Haryana, launched a protest movement on the borders of Delhi. They wanted the government to repeal the recent farm laws passed by the Indian Parliament, which they believed undermined their livelihoods and favored large corporations. The protests lasted almost a year, and the Indian security agencies alleged that foreign organizations, especially Sikhs for Justice, had a role in funding and supporting them.
“We saw a groundswell of support by Sikhs across the world during [the] farmers’ protest,” said Arjun Sethi, a professor of law at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. “That type of collective organizing, mobilization and financial support through aid, concerned and frustrated the Modi government.” Even the global pop icon Rihanna tweeted in support of the farmers, focusing international attention on the issue. Sikhs also protested outside Indian embassies in Canada, the U.S., the United Kingdom and other countries.
While the Modi government made a rare concession in November 2021 and repealed the three laws, the protests and global attention didn’t just amplify the farmers’ voices but also strengthened the Sikh diaspora, which started paying more attention to local issues in Punjab. The rift deepened between the Indian state and the Sikh diaspora.
In the Indian media, diaspora activism was increasingly portrayed as extremist or manipulated by foreign powers, often being reduced to “Khalistani propaganda.” Incidents within the Sikh community in Canada — from gurdwara politics to Khalistan referendums — also began receiving wider attention, often framed as threats to India’s national security or foreign policy interests.
Nijjar’s assassination and the subsequent unsealing of the FBI indictment that corroborated Canada’s allegations served as the final nail in the coffin, however. They sharply intensified anti-India — and particularly anti-Modi — sentiment among the Sikh diaspora.
A section of the community, particularly those with families and young children, have now become very cautious, said Gurtej Singh Cheema, a retired academic and spokesperson for the Capitol Sikh Center in Sacramento, California. Ujjal Dosanjh, a lawyer and former premier of British Columbia, said that Khalistan activists fear that if the Indian government could order a hit on an activist once, it could do it again. As a result, many of them now cover their faces during protests against India, he said
When I visited several Sikh temples in Canada and the U.S., people refused to speak to me. They would be cautious if anyone took photographs. At the Surrey temple, where Nijjar was killed, several devotees were scared to talk about him, perhaps fearing that I was an Indian spy. Only one temple representative reluctantly agreed to talk to me. Gurmeet Singh Toor, the secretary of the temple and one of the eyewitnesses to the assassination, said that Nijjar was targeted because he was “quite vocal against the Indian government.”
While some leaders like Dosanjh think that the Khalistan movement will now decline amid growing suspicion and fears, Nijjar’s killing marked a seismic shift in Sikh activism across the diaspora. It has sparked a deeper reckoning with Sikh identity, community and political engagement, especially among young Sikhs in North America, who were not previously as engaged.
It catalyzed renewed engagement with Sikh history and global justice movements, sparking vigils, rallies, teach-ins and legal advocacy. Organizations that had struggled for years to gain traction found new energy, and Sikh voices began shaping media narratives and policy debates with a sharper edge. “Surprisingly, many Sikh youths who had never been active began to speak out and started spreading awareness … after [the] assassination of Nijjar,” said Cheema.
One of them is Imren Kaur Sahota, a Surrey resident pursuing a college degree in psychology and working in real estate alongside her father. She is a Sikh activist who advocates for Khalistan and told me how her life completely changed after the 2020 farmers’ protest in India. “There is a huge difference,” Sahota said. “If you knew me before, you would never believe I would be where I am today. Sometimes I sit and wonder, is this really my life?”
Five years ago, the gurdwara was the last place she wanted to go. “Now I can’t skip a day without the gurdwara,” she said. “Earlier, I only went once a year on New Year’s Day because of my parents. This journey completely changed my life.” She became a baptized Sikh after Nijjar’s killing. “You took one, but we will make thousands more,” she said. “I think it sparked a fire in so many. I was baptized because of it and I am also sure many others [were], too,” she said.
Similarly, Prabjot Singh, legal counsel for the Sikh Federation in Canada and editor of the Panth-Punjab Project — a digital platform that “examines Punjab politics from a Sikh perspective” — switched from pursuing a doctorate in political science to studying law. He was influenced by the arrest of Jagtar Singh Johal, a Scottish Sikh activist detained in Punjab on alleged terror charges in 2017. “I was at a bit of a crossroads and decided to switch to law school to gain the skills to practically advocate for the community,” he said.
Later, in 2022, when several Sikh activists in Surrey, including Nijjar, received warnings from Canadian agencies about credible threats linked to the Indian government, it motivated him to commit to activism full-time, he said.
“Nijjar’s sacrifice definitely motivates us to keep telling these stories to our fellow Americans,” said Karam Singh, a Sacramento-based co-founder of the California Sikh Youth Alliance. “I certainly think that this assassination campaign has made this thing [Sikh activism] even bigger than it was going to be previously,” he said.
Recent incidents have also strained relations between Sikh and Hindu communities within the diaspora. Public disagreements have escalated into counterprotests and heated exchanges, particularly in Canada, where both groups now find themselves increasingly polarized along political and ideological lines. There is now a sharpened opposition to Hindu nationalism, which many Sikh activists view as an existential threat to religious minorities in India and abroad.
For instance, there were clashes between pro-Khalistan Sikh activists and Hindu groups at a Hindu temple in Brampton in November 2024. The confrontation, which was condemned by Modi, occurred during an event organized by the Indian High Commission. Modi called it a “deliberate attack,” while Trudeau also denounced the violence. The episode left tensions running high in the following days, with both communities on edge. To try and calm the atmosphere, some temples launched Hindu-Sikh unity rallies, which served as a powerful counternarrative to the extremist provocations. Yet the broader environment remains fraught with political friction and mistrust.
While the Toronto-based political commentator Sarbjit Kaur acknowledges that some damage has been done, she maintains that “the vast majority of what I would call regular people still respect each other.” But the journalist Rishi Nagar, who is based in Calgary, believes that Punjabis living in Canada, who represent both Sikhs and Hindus, are now facing an identity crisis due to mistrust on both sides.
“I can’t tell if the Sikh boy next to me supports Khalistan, is against it or just doesn’t like India — it wasn’t always like this,” said Nagar. “There used to be space for open disagreement in Canada, where pro-Khalistan and anti-Khalistan voices could coexist. Now, especially if you’re Hindu, you might look at a Sikh and start wondering if he’s some kind of foreign agent.” The same skepticism is shared by Sikhs who feel that a section of Hindus are too quick to question their loyalties and brand them as separatists, especially on social media.
Before the Nijjar assassination, Canadian and American media coverage of the Sikh diaspora would center on immigration policy debates or stories of marriage fraud, especially in India. If the Khalistan movement was mentioned at all, it was largely through the lens of the Air India bombing — the deadliest act of aviation terrorism before 9/11 — which targeted a flight traveling from Toronto to New Delhi via London, killing all 329 people on board.
But after Nijjar’s killing and the threats to Pannun in New York, the international media began to pay more attention to the Sikh community. Several prominent publications, including The New York Times, the Financial Times and The Washington Post, reported on the incident and produced short documentaries on India’s alleged role, threats to Sikh separatists and ongoing risks faced by the Sikh community globally.
“There wasn’t a lot of coverage about Sikh people in Canadian politics before June 2023,” said Rupinder Kaur Liddar, a doctoral student at McGill University researching South Asian political behavior in Canada. It was limited to the diversity angle, she said. “When Jagmeet Singh became the leader of the National Democratic Party in Canada in 2017, the media coveted him as the first turban-wearing Sikh leading a major federal political party. He was the first visible minority leader,” said Liddar.
Now, there is a shift in North America. “Initially, the Khalistan movement was indeed responsible for terrorist attacks, like the 1985 bombing, and it was covered accordingly,” said Stewart Bell, an investigative journalist at Global News Canada. “I did so myself. But over time, it has transitioned into a mostly peaceful protest movement,” he said.
Earlier, mentions of the Indian government harassing communities were met with skepticism or seen as paranoia or conspiracy theories, said Amarnath Amarasingam, a professor at Queen’s University in Ontario. “And now the tables have changed.”
While anti-India sentiment among a section of the Sikh diaspora existed for decades, it had never reached the present level of international visibility and political intensity. Earlier divisions were largely internal to the Sikh community, but the current shift is marked by widening rifts with other diaspora groups — particularly Indian-origin Hindus. As governments in Canada, the U.S. and India grapple with these tensions, the Sikh diaspora now finds itself at a crossroad, navigating questions of identity, belonging and political expression in an increasingly polarized landscape.
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