Sikh activist defies threats

WHEN Moninder Singh learnt recently of assassination threats against his family in Canada, where a fellow Sikh activist was killed in 2023, he says he remained defiant.

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CANADA'S Sikh activist Moninder Singh is advocating for international action against India's alleged targeting of Sikh activists.

(AFP)

“We won't be silenced,” the chairman of the Sikh Federation of Canada said.

Singh was speaking at the UN's European headquarters in Geneva, where he has been appealing for international action against India's alleged targeting of Sikh activists abroad, and against so-called transnational repression more broadly.

Sikh activists accuse India of targeting members of their community around the world, including alleged killings using organised crime groups charges India denies.

The best-known case was the 2023 killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a friend of Singh’s who was gunned down near the Sikh temple he led in a Vancouver suburb.

Canada's then-prime minister, Justin Trudeau, publicly accused India of involvement in that assassination, a charge later repeated by Canadian intelligence.

India denied the allegations, which chilled ties between the two nations, and saw each expelling a string of diplomats in 2024.