US NSA calls Nijjar’s killing an ‘assassination,’ stresses joint efforts with Canada

Sullivan, who attended a Canadian Cabinet retreat in Halifax, Nova Scotia, made these remarks while responding to media queries there on Monday. Sullivan met Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and other Cabinet Ministers while in Halifax.

“The US and Canada have cooperated at every level: Law enforcement, intelligence, and diplomatic. And we will continue to do so because, as you know, and as we have said publicly, and briefed Congress on, we had an attempted assassination in the United States as well. It was a tragedy what happened in Canada,” he said.

“We have good cooperation and coordination on these issues and we take a very firm line on the question of attempted and actualized assassinations in our two countries. And it is our joint commitment along with other allies, to stand firmly against that,” he added.

Nijjar was murdered in Surrey, British Columbia, on June 18 last year. Three months later, Trudeau stated in the House of Commons that there were “credible allegations” of a potential link between Indian agents and the killing. That statement caused a rupture in relations between the two countries as India described the charges as “absurd” and “motivated.”

Last year in November, an indictment in a Federal court in New York was unsealed revealing an unsuccessful plot to kill Nijjar’s close friend and SFJ’s general counsel Gurpatwant Pannun. The American documents pointed to an Indian official allegedly directing alleged gangster Nik Gupta to facilitate Pannun’s killing but that plan went awry as the person he contacted was an undercover American operative.

But Nijjar’s killing was specifically mentioned in the indictment. Gupta was arrested in Czechia and subsequently extradited to the US, where he is in prison awaiting trial.

Four Indian nationals are currently in custody in connection with the Nijjar killing. Investigators have yet to substantiate the allegations of an Indian hand in the murder but have said that angle continues to be probed.

Late last year, India established an internal inquiry committee to look into the attempt on Pannun’s life but that does not include the Nijjar matter.