UK spies handed over intel to Canada on Nijjar killing: report

It was with the help of British spy call intercepts that the Canadian authorities drew alleged links between India and the killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar in June 2023, a new documentary released this week has claimed.

‘Inside the Deaths that Rocked India’s Relations with the West’ by ‘Bloomberg Originals’ reports that a British intelligence agency – believed to be the UK’s Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ), often referred to as the country’s listening post – intercepted calls that appeared to be discussing three targets.

Nijjar, a Canadian Sikh designated a terrorist by India in 2020 for Khalistani extremism, was allegedly among the names on the intelligence passed on to the Canadian authorities under the ‘Five Eyes’ intelligence sharing agreement between the UK, US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

In late July 2023, there was a “breakthrough” in the Nijjar murder investigation case when the UK obtained “relevant information”, the video documentary claims.

The British intelligence would only be shared under strict conditions: hand-delivered to Ottawa and kept off electronic systems and only a handful of Canadian officials, pre-approved by London, could see it, it is claimed.

“The file was a summary of conversations intercepted by a British intelligence agency between individuals who analysts believe were working on behalf of the Indian government,” the documentary claims.

“They had discussed three potential targets: Nijjar, (Avtar Singh) Khanda and (Gurpatwant Singh) Pannun. Later, there was an exchange about how Nijjar had been successfully eliminated,” it alleges.

Khanda, a British Sikh pro-Khalistani activist, died in June 2023 at a hospital in the city of Birmingham in the West Midlands region of England. He was terminally ill with blood cancer and despite allegations from some groups in the UK, the British authorities ruled there were “no suspicious circumstances” surrounding the death.

In the wake of the documentary, Sikh Federation UK said it has written to security minister Dan Jarvis to demand why the British government has intelligence from July 2023 that it has not shared or referred to “when specifically asked by MPs representing the Sikh community.” “We are particularly concerned about British intelligence held that is relevant to the mysterious death of Avtar Singh Khanda,” the letter reads.

Meanwhile, US-based Pannun, designated a terrorist by India for his Khalistani extremism, is interviewed in the Bloomberg documentary surrounded by armed bodyguards and claims to be in fear for his life.

India has strongly rejected Canadian allegations as “absurd and motivated” and a “deliberate strategy of smearing India for political gains.” The issue triggered a massive diplomatic row when the then prime minister Justin Trudeau made a statement in the Canadian Parliament in 2023 that its security forces were “actively pursuing credible allegations” linking Indian government agents to the murder of Nijjar in British Columbia.

In October 2024, India recalled its high commissioner and five other diplomats after Ottawa attempted to link them to the Nijjar case.

India also expelled an equal number of Canadian diplomats.

However, Liberal Party leader Carney's victory in the parliamentary election in April this year helped begin the process of resetting relations.

In June, Prime Minister Narendra Modi held talks with his Canadian counterpart Mark Carney on the margins of the G7 summit at Kananaskis in Canada.

In August, India and Canada appointed envoys to each other's capitals, signalling their efforts to repair ties.