Nijjar's associate survives assassination attempt in California shootout

LONDON: A close associate of the assassinated Canadian-Khalistani leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar and an active organiser of Khalistan Referendum has survived a deadly ambush in a planned California shootout.

Satinder Pal Singh Raju, a well-known pro-Khalistan activist for Sikhs For Justice (SFJ), was attacked when the truck he was travelling in was sprayed with bullets by shooters on the Interstate 505 near the American state of San Francisco.

After Nijjar's assassination on June 18, 2023, by Indian agents, Raju along with the SFJ team camped in Surrey BC from July till October to organise the Khalistan Referendum Phase I & II dedicated to Nijjar.

Recently, Raju was with the SFJ team in Calgary, Alberta, to organise the July 28 Khalistan Referendum voting. Earlier in January and March 2024, Raju played an active part in organising iconic Khalistan Referendum voting in San Francisco and Sacramento, CA.

Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, general counsel to SFJ blamed the government of Indian prime minister Narendra Modi for ordering the assassination attempt.

Pannun said: "Modi 3.0 Regime is continuing with its policy of transnational repression to violently suppress the global Khalistan Referendum campaign seeking liberation of Punjab from Indian occupation.

"India’s unabated transnational violence cannot stop the voting process started by the Referendum campaigners.”

After the drive by shooting in Brampton, Canada at the house of Inderjeet Singh Gosal, the Canadian organiser of Khalistan Referendum, the latest assassination attempt against Raju is the most recent violent attack against Khalistan Referendum campaigners in North America. In February this year, the house of a Sikh activist Gosal was hit with gunfire, in the second such incident this month, reigniting fears of an apparent transnational campaign of violence and intimidation by the Indian govt targeting Sikh separatists.

In June, the Czech Republic had extradited Indian agent Nikhil Guptato who is suspected of involvement in an unsuccessful plot to kill Sikh leader and SFJ founder Gurpatwant Singh Pannun in the United States. Washington has alleged the suspect was part of a plot directed by the Indian government.

Gupta is accused by US federal prosecutors of plotting with intelligence and security officials to kill Pannun, a US and Canadian citizen who is running the global Khalistan Referendum campaign.