Dasvand
Ottawa (June 17 2025) – The World Sikh Organization of Canada (WSO) welcomes British Columbia Premier David Eby’s announcement that he will ask the Canadian Government to add the Lawrence Bishnoi network, which is linked to the Government of India, to Canada’s list of terrorist entities.
At the same time, following today’s meeting between Prime Minister Mark Carney and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the WSO reiterates that any resumption of full diplomatic relations with India must be contingent on concrete steps by India to end foreign-interference operations in Canada and to cooperate fully with ongoing criminal investigations.
Canadian law enforcement and intelligence agencies have linked the Bishnoi gang to assassinations, extortions, and intimidation carried out at the direction of Indian government agents including the 2023 murder of Canadian Sikh leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar and other violent crimes.
According to Global News, an agent of the Government of India with ties to the Bishnoi gang was found to be surveilling former federal NDP leader Jagmeet Singh. The threat posed by this operation was deemed a credible risk to Jagmeet Singh’s life and prompted a duty to warn and police protection.
Canada’s National Security Adviser Nathalie Drouin has testified before parliamentarians that India collected intelligence on Sikhs in Canada through diplomatic channels and proxies, then passed it to Indian authorities who worked with the Lawrence Bishnoi gang. The Bishnoi gang most recently took responsibility for the May 14, 2025 murder of a Sikh businessman in Mississauga.
Senior Canadian officials have also confirmed that India’s Home Minister Amit Shah personally ordered the campaign of violence and intelligence-gathering against Sikh activists in Canada. Shah is widely considered Prime Minister Modi’s right-hand man.
The PMO’s readout of the Carney–Modi meeting today states that India and Canada will “designate new high commissioners, with a view to returning to regular services to citizens and businesses in both countries,” and claims the relationship is based on “mutual respect, rule of law, and sovereignty.”
WSO President Danish Singh said today,
“We welcome Premier Eby’s announcement that he will ask the federal government to list the Lawrence Bishnoi gang as a terrorist entity. The Bishnoi gang has been used as a proxy by the Government of India to target Sikhs in Canada with murders, extortions and other violent crimes.
Premier Eby’s request for a terrorist designation is an essential first step that will give police stronger investigative tools and allow them to freeze the gang’s assets, sending a clear signal that state-sponsored violence has no place in Canada. We also call on the federal government to impose targeted sanctions on Indian officials involved in directing or funding the Bishnoi network.
With respect to the meeting between Prime Minister Carney and Prime Minister Modi, we believe this meeting sends the wrong message at the wrong time. Diplomatic photo-ops must not come at the expense of justice for Canadian victims or the safety of Sikh Canadians. We would like to see concrete steps follow this meeting to hold India accountable for its interference and criminal activities in Canada
With the announcement that India will be appointing a new high commissioner to Canada, we stress that any such appointee must be closely vetted and actively monitored to ensure they are not engaging in foreign interference or intimidation of the Sikh community. Trust alone will not be enough. Indian diplomats have too often been implicated in criminal activity in Canada and removed as a result.”
Last week, WSO, in partnership with the BC Gurdwaras Council, Ontario Gurdwaras Committee, Sikh Federation Canada, and the Quebec Sikh Council, issued the following calls to action:
- Full cooperation by Indian authorities with RCMP and CSIS investigations into Nijjar’s murder and other plots, and an immediate end to foreign interference and transnational repression in Canada, including the use of criminal proxies like the Bishnoi gang.
- The launch of a public inquiry into India’s interference operations in Canada.
- The suspension of all intelligence-sharing agreements with India due to its involvement in human rights abuses and extrajudicial violence.
WSO is a non-profit national organization with a mandate to promote and protect the interests of Canadian Sikhs as well as to promote and advocate for the protection of human rights of all individuals.