OTTAWA: Shots appear to have been fired at the Canadian home of a Sikh separatist activist, police said on Monday, following recent allegations by Ottawa and Washington that Indian dissidents living abroad in both countries have been targeted for assassination.

Constable Tyler Bell-Morena said Peel Regional Police were alerted by construction crews about what appeared to be “a bullet hole in a window of the home” of Inderjit Singh Gosal in the province of Ontario, and are investigating.

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Gosal is also a close associate of prominent Sikh separatist leader Gur­patwant Singh Pan­nun, an American Sikh activist in New York whom US authorities say was the target of a thwarted assassination plot in the US last year.

There were no injuries in the shooting as the Brampton, Ontario, home is under construction and currently unoccupied.

“We understand who this person is and his affiliations, but it’s just too early for us to speculate that there’s any connection” to other violence and threats, the police official said.

“We are obviously investigating it with all avenues in mind,” he added.

Pannun, writing on social media, called the incident a “drive-by shooting”.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in September directly linked New Delhi to the killing of another Sikh separatist, Hardeep Singh Nijjar.

After Trudeau went public with his allegations, India denied the charges and responded furiously, briefly curbing visas for Canadians and forcing Ottawa to withdraw diplomats.

Canada also suspended negotiations for a free-trade deal with India.

Earlier this month, a group of people shot at the British Columbia home of Simranjeet Singh, an associate of Nijjar. Two Canadian teens have been arrested for discharging a firearm, but a motive has not been determined by police, according to Canadian media.

Published in Dawn, February 14th, 2024