Author Hardeep Singh

Assassination of Sikh activist Gurpreet Singh Hari Nau in India-administered Punjab is hitting headlines these days. During the Panchayat elections, he was shot dead by unknown bike borne armed men on October 9 while returning home from the village gurdwara on his motorcycle. 

This killing is being viewed as part of the series of assassinations of the Sikh activists peacefully fighting for Sikh human rights including right to self-determination. These assassinations are taking place across the world allegedly at the behest of Indian intelligence agencies, though the Government of India has refuted the charges of its involvement in any such conspiracy to eliminate prominent faces of the Sikh struggle. 

It is worth noticing that Indian State and its security agencies including Punjab Police are acting on the plot of killing two birds with one stone in case of Gurpreet Singh’s assassination. 

Gurpreet Singh was close aide of slain actor-turned-Sikh activist Sandeep Singh aka Deep Sidhu who played great role in revival of Sikh struggle in Punjab and energized the Sikh youths in short span of time, and was active member of Sikh organization Waris Punjab De (WPD) which was founded by Deep Sidhu. 

Sidhu died under mysterious circumstances in February, 2022. The Indian State stated that he died in a road accident. However, the Sikh bodies have been alleging that the road accident was staged to eliminate him as he was fast taking centre stage in the political Sikh struggle. After his death, Bhai Amritpal Singh was appointed as head of the WPD by the members of the organization, with whom Gurpreet Singh Hari Nau had differences. These differences sparked debate sometimes between him and supporters of Bhai Amritpal Singh over social media.

Gurpreet Singh Hari Nau was a renowned activist but the way the Police cracked the case of his murder was surprising. Many questions arose about the Police response. 

Initially, Police gave a dull response to this assassination, nor was it seen serious to trace the shooters to unearth the whole conspiracy. The Sikh activists did not cremate the dead body demanding arrest of the killers. 

Meanwhile, the Police and other intelligence agencies came to know that there were differences between him and Amritpal Singh and his supporters. After learning about this, the Police and other Indian agencies planned to gain something from the assassination. They tried to use these differences to kill two birds with one stone. 

On one side, they tried to defame Amritpal Singh who recently registered a thumping victory in parliamentary elections from Sikh bastion, Khadoor Sahib, and emerged as most popular Sikh leader, as well as fuel infighting among the Sikh activists, what was called as “Bhra Maroo Jang” (Fight within community activists) by the Sikh leaders.  

The Punjab Police DGP Gaurav Yadav along with senior officers addressed a press conference at Chandigarh. Without any evidence, he, on one side, made the claim that the assassination was carried out at the behest of Amritpal Singh who is detained in distant Dibrugarh jail of Assam under the draconian law, National Security Act (NSA). On the other hand, he said investigations have revealed that the murder of Gurpreet Singh was masterminded from abroad by alleged gangster Arsh Dalla and other persons.

Mainstream Indian media helped Indian agencies in spreading false propaganda against the pro-freedom Sikh leader and flared up his Amritpal related claim. Police have also named Amritpal in the FIR registered on 10 October, 2024, under Sections 103 (1), 126 (2) and 3 (5) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and Section 25 of the Arms Act at the Kotkapura police station in Faridkot district.

“Falsly Implicating Amritpal Singh is aimed at causing Bhra Maroo Jang”, said Khalistani leader and three-times MP Simranjit Singh Mann, responding to a query of newsmen during an interaction. 

A day after Yadav leveled the allegation, Amritpal Singh’s father Tarsem Singh said, “Amritpal’s implication in the case is a plan to create obstacles in the way of his release from Central Jail Dibrugarh (Assam) where he is detained under NSA. This is part of the conspiracy under which, Punjab government recently mentioned in its reply to Punjab and Haryana High Court that Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann has life threat from Amritpal Singh”.

Accompanied by Sikh leaders during a press conference held in Amritsar on Saturday, he said, “Amritpal has been nominated mere on suspicion and without any evidence. This act of the government has exposed its intention to keep him behind bars and defame him besides causing infighting in the community. But, Amritpal Singh and his family will not bow before the excesses of the government”.

“Sole aim of this false case and raids of Central agencies like NIA at the houses of Amritpal’s supporters is to suppress his emergence on the political scene and terrorize his supporters. We will fight these atrocities with courage”, said Tarsem Singh demanding probe of the cause by sitting judge of Punjab and Haryana High Court. 

He said, “Murder of Gurpreet Singh is a sad incident. However, the government is trying to cause rifts in Sikh activists using this murder, which is very unfortunate. Since the day of murder, state-sponsored actors in Panthic segments have already been trying to put responsibility of this murder on Amritpal Singh”.

“Claim of the Punjab Police DGP is ridiculous. Amritpal Singh is under tight surveillance in Dibrugarh jail. Nobody can meet him from outside without permission of the Amritsar Deputy Commissioner. He can speak over the phone only in presence of the intelligence personnel. How can it be possible for him to ask anyone to kill someone?”, said senior lawyer and human rights activist Advocate Harpal Singh Khara.

In 2022, elderly Sikh leader Ripudaman Singh Malik was assassinated by unknown persons in Canada. Indian agencies are suspected to be behind that assassination too. Since a section of the Sikh leaders had differences with him, the Indian agencies tried to create the narrative through its agents within the community that he was shot dead by the Sikhs. 

It may be recalled that under the patronage of Indian agencies and the then Badal government, head and followers of Sirsa based Dera hurt Sikh sentiments across the world by committing sacrilege of Guru Granth Sahib in 2015. This incident created unprecedented unrest in Punjab. But Punjab Police officials claimed that this sacrilege was committed by Sikh activists to destabilize the government. Then, Supreme Court senior lawyer Advocate HS Phoolka proved this claim false. Later on, Punjab Police’ own probe teams found that it was a deep rooted conspiracy of the notorious Dera. Of late, Supreme Court has given nod for trial against Dera head Gurmeet Ram Rahim who is already jailed in rape case. 

“The intelligence agencies are facing charges of assassinating our Sikh leaders on foreign soil. The United States and Canada have clearly exposed the role of actors of the Indian State in these assassination plots”, added Tarsem Singh. 

When, Sikh struggle for fundamental rights is gaining momentum in foreign countries and Punjab, the Indian agencies are on toes to torpedo the efforts of Sikh activists. Assassinations of Sikh activists are part of this conspiracy. 

Prior to this, Bhai Rattandeep Singh was gunned down by unknown bike borne persons at Balachaur town of Nawanshahr district on April 3 this year. He remained associated to Bhindranwala Tiger Force (BTF) and joined the Sikh armed movement in young age. He remained close aide of Khalistan Commando Force (KCF) chief Bhai Paramjit Singh Panjwar in Pakistan, who was assassinated in Lahore in May in 2023.

A month after Panjwar’s assassination, a prominent face of Sikh freedom movement in Canada, Hardeep Singh Nijjar, was shot dead in Surrey. The Canadian government accused India of killing the Sikh leader who was head of a gurdwara in Surrey.

Meanwhile, another freedom fighter Bhai Avtar Singh Khanda died under mysterious circumstances. The UK Sikh bodies have evidence that somebody gave him poison in the food and demanded a probe of the death, but the UK government which has strong ties with India, did not conduct the probe. Khanda was also on target of Indian intelligence agencies as he was one of the main faces of the Khalistan movement in the UK.