Arshdeep Dalla
The Government of India has designated Arshdeep Singh Gill (Gill) on its list of designated terrorists under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967.
Gill lives in Canada and is a/k/a Arsh Dala, a/k/a Arsh Dalla.
The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), which published the designation on January 9, 2023 in the Gazette of India, states that Gill is associated with the Canadian extremist organization Khalistan Tiger Force (KTF).
The MHA states that Gill engages in terrorist financing [from Canada, presumably, where he is located] using hawalas, and has committed murder, extortion for terrorist financing, and engages in cross-border smuggling of drugs and weapons.
Hardeep Nijjar
According to the MHA, Gill operates terrorist modules for Hardeep Singh Nijjar (Nijjar), a Canadian who was listed as a terrorist by India in 2020.
Two weeks after Gill was listed as a terrorist, his brother Baldeep Singh Dalla allegedly fled to Canada using a fake passport. He is alleged to have ran terrorist operations at the direction of his brother.
The KTF is not a designated terrorist organization, according to terrorist lists in Canada and India, although its related entity, Babbar Khalsa International (BKI), is a listed terrorist organization in Canada and in India.
KTF and BKI seek an independent Sikh state to be called “Khalistan” from India, and have engaged in armed attacks against critical infrastructure and public property for ideological purposes.
Gill’s associate Nijjar is alleged to be the leader of the KTF. According to an interview with TV Punjab in Vancouver, Nijjar said he is not a Canadian terrorist. Nijjar is alleged to have set up an arms training camp in Mission Hill, a small town in British Columbia, Canada, which he denied in a news report here.
Gurpatwant Pannun
Nijjar’s designation as a terrorist by India came at the same time as the terrorist designation of lawyer Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, a New York called lawyer but who is said to be in Canada, practicing law in British Columbia. Among other legal cases in British Columbia that he conducts is acting for Nijjar in Vancouver. Pannun is a Khalistani separatist. India alleges that he is an associate of BKI terrorists, and involved in terrorism. He is on India’s most wanted list but Interpol refused to list him.
Pannun he has not been convicted.
The terrorist group BKI was formed by Sukhdev Singh Babbar and Talwinder Singh Parmar. Its first branch was set up in Vancouver in 1981. The former leader of BKI, Jagtar Singh Tara, founded KTF.
1985 Canadian terrorist attack
Talwinder Singh Parmar is well-known to Canadians. He was the Vancouver mastermind behind the 1985 Air India terrorist attack that killed 329 people, including 280 Canadians. After the terrorist attack, he fled to Pakistan, and then India where he was killed by the Punjab police in October 1992.
Jagtar Singh Tara was prosecuted for a 1995 suicide bomb attack that killed several people, including the chief minister of Punjab, Beant Singh. He is currently incarcerated in New Delhi.
Sukhdev Singh Babbar was killed in 1992 in the Punjab.
Indian intelligence says that BKI is funded by hawalas and NGOs in Canada.
Extradition sought by India
India is seeking the extradition of Gill, Nijjar and the lawyer Pannun, and may seek the removal of Dalla on identity theft and misrepresentation grounds tied to his entry into Canada using an alleged false passport.
Terrorist financing is a money laundering predicate offence and the removal of Gill and Nijjar from Canada could include money laundering allegations.
Ontario member of parliament Deepak Anand, and Ujjal Dosanjh, a former British Columbia premier and federal cabinet minister, stand out as two politicians in Canada who have objected to the celebration of terrorist figures like Parmar.