The son of Sikh community leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar says his father was meeting regularly with Canadian intelligence officers in the months before he was shot dead in British Columbia, in a killing Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says has been credibly linked to India.

Balraj Nijjar says in an interview that his father was meeting Canadian Security Intelligence Service officers B次元官网网址渙nce or twice a week,B次元官网网址� including one or two days before the June 18 killing, with another meeting scheduled for two days after his death.

Balraj Nijjar says he also attended a meeting between his father and the RCMP last year in which they were told about threats to his fatherB次元官网网址檚 life, and he was advised to B次元官网网址渟tay at home.B次元官网网址�

Hardeep Nijjar B次元官网网址� a vocal supporter of the Khalistan movement that advocates for a separate Sikh homeland in the Punjab B次元官网网址� was gunned down by two masked men in the parking lot of SurreyB次元官网网址檚 Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara, where he was president.

Trudeau announced to Parliament on Monday that intelligence services were investigating B次元官网网址渃redibleB次元官网网址� information about B次元官网网址渁 potential linkB次元官网网址� between IndiaB次元官网网址檚 government and the killing.

IndiaB次元官网网址檚 government has denied the accusation as B次元官网网址渁bsurd and motivated.B次元官网网址�

Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, a U.S.-based spokesman for the group Sikhs for Justice and a close associate of Nijjar, says Nijjar had asked Canadian authorities whether he should wear a bulletproof vest in the weeks before he was gunned down.

The New York-based lawyer saysNijjar asked about the vest in April or May, and the agencies responded to the effect that they could not provide one.

Pannun says Nijjar had also told him a year earlier, around July 2022, that Canadian authoritieshad told him about a threat to his life.

He says they told Nijjar he shouldnB次元官网网址檛 go to his gurdwara at his usual times and he should avoid being seen in public.

But Balraj Nijjar said neither he nor his father wanted to hide.

B次元官网网址淲e werenB次元官网网址檛 worried about safety because we werenB次元官网网址檛 doing anything wrong. We were just using freedom of speech,B次元官网网址� he said.

India had previously accused Hardeep Nijjar of terrorism and separatism. He was a key proponent of Sikh independence and had been helping organize an unofficial referendum on Sikh independence in India.

Pannun said he believed Nijjar chose to go about his daily life despite the warnings from Canadian authorities because his campaigning in Canada was peaceful.

B次元官网网址淪ince the Khalistan referendum is a peaceful and a democratic process, and he is in Canada, where freedom of speech and expression is inherently a democratic, fundamental right,B次元官网网址� he said.

A media officer for the RCMP in B.C. said a request for a response had been forwarded to RCMP national headquarters. CSIS did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment.

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