Amit Shah, Modi's Closest Advisor, Authorized Sikh Assassination Program

The Canadian government expelled six Indian diplomats and consular officials on Monday, after concluding that they had gathered intelligence about Sikhs and conspired with organized crime to extort, surveil, and murder more than a dozen Sikhs across Canada. One of these plots was the assassination of Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Surrey in June 2023, when masked gunmen shot him 34 times outside a Sikh house of worship.

The Washington Post reported later in the day that Home Minister and PM Modi’s closest advisor, Amit Shah, approved the assassination program.

Vindication & Alarm

The Sikh community treated the news with both vindication and alarm. Sikhs had long believed that the transnational repression they were experiencing was highly organized and authorized by the Indian government — and yet confirmation of it was nevertheless troubling. The state of India was - quite literally - running an assassination program targeting Sikhs from Canadian soil.

Canadian officials described the Indian government in official communications as a “significant threat to public safety.” In addition to the Nijjar murder, at least 13 Sikhs have been warned by authorities that there lives could be in danger since September 2023, and countless more have been stalked, surveilled, intimidated, and threatened. The six diplomats and consular officials have now been deported from Canada, as have their families. Canada considers them persona non grata and they are banned from re-entering.

India’s Blanket Denial

India, for its part, has denied any wrongdoing. In fact, Ajit Doval, Modi’s National Security Advisor, is reported to have said that India “would deny any link to the Nijjar murder and any link to any other violence in Canada no matter what the evidence was.” In other words, the Indian government is blaming rogue agents and organized crime for the violence, which is exactly what the Sikh community expected.

Amit Shah’s Long Criminal History

Perhaps the biggest revelation of all is that Amit Shah authorized the assassination program. Surveilled conversations and texts among the implicated Indian diplomats referenced a “senior official” in India. Canadian intelligence revealed this official to be Shah.

Shah has long been associated with allegations of extra-judicial violence. As The Wire reports, India’s own Central Bureau of Investigation charged him a decade ago with “being part of the conspiracy to kill Sohrabudddin Sheikh, his wife Kauser Bi and associate Tulsiram Prajapati in fake police encounters.” It’s my belief that Shah was not only guilty of these crimes, but also ordered the assassination of Brijgopal Harkishan Loya, the judge presiding over the Sohrabuddin matter. Journalist Niranjan Takle has written an extraordinary book on the matter entitled, Who Killed Judge Loya? All charges were later dropped after Modi became Prime Minister of India.

Looking Ahead: Accountability

While Canada is to be lauded for taking definitive action against these six Indian officials, diplomatic immunity insulated them from real accountability. Looking forward, Canada, the U.S., and all nations where this assassination program was active, should isolate India by imposing diplomatic sanctions. There must be a comprehensive, impartial investigation into all alleged wrongdoing; the findings must be made public; and all Indian government officials, no matter how senior, should be prosecuted and held accountable. A more complete list of asks from Sikh community organizations can be found below.