Surrey Sikh Community on Two Fronts: FBI Joins Nijjar Hunt, Banned Film Satluj Draws Crowds
Two intersecting stories shaped Surrey's Sikh community in mid-2026: the FBI's placement of Goldy Brar, a top Bishnoi gang lieutenant accused of ordering the assassination of Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar, on its Ten Most Wanted fugitives list with a $1 million reward, and the grassroots embrace of Satluj, a Diljit Dosanjh film banned in India that retraces the life of another Sikh human rights figure. Together they illustrate how Surrey's large Punjabi diaspora continues to navigate transnational threats and the politics of cultural memory.
FBI Places Goldy Brar on Most-Wanted List for Ordering Nijjar's Gurdwara Killing
The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation announced in September 2026 that it was adding Satinderjeet Singh, widely known as Goldy Brar, to its Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list and offering a $1 million reward for information leading to his capture. Brar, described as a top lieutenant in the Lawrence Bishnoi gang, was charged in July 2026 with ordering the June 2023 killing of Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar in the parking lot of the Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara in Surrey, B.C. FBI Assistant Director in Charge of the Los Angeles Field Office, Patrick Grandy, stated: 'He joins the notorious Top 10 list because he is considered extremely violent and an enemy to the public. We have made it a priority to apprehend him.' The FBI also alleges that the broader Bishnoi criminal organization is directed from jail by Lawrence Bishnoi himself, who uses smuggled phones to manage global operations, with Brar overseeing the North American enterprise. RCMP Deputy Commissioner Lisa Moreland said Brar's network had caused 'devastating havoc to so many lives and families for years — through high-profile murders, shootings, death threats, extortions, arsons and drug trafficking,' adding that the high-profile Most Wanted designation meant 'the world just became a whole lot smaller.' The case originated with former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's assertion that Canadian intelligence linked agents of the Indian government to Nijjar's death, sparking an ongoing diplomatic rupture between Canada and New Delhi, which has repeatedly denied the allegation. [2]
🎬 Banned Sikh Activist Film Satluj Finds Audiences at Surrey Community Screenings
A Punjabi-language film called Satluj, starring singer and actor Diljit Dosanjh in the role of Sikh human rights activist Jaswant Singh Khalra, drew community viewers across Canada after it was banned in India and abruptly removed from a streaming platform within 48 hours of its release. Surrey, B.C., hosted multiple community screenings during the weekend of July 18-19, 2026, drawing audiences determined to see a story that India's censorship board had blocked for approximately two to three years before its brief online appearance. Gurpreet Singh, a Delta-based independent journalist and author, explained that the film covers Khalra's investigation into extrajudicial killings and disappearances carried out by Punjab police during the separatist insurgency of the 1980s and 1990s — subject matter Indian authorities cited as a security concern when ordering it taken down from the streaming platform. The grassroots screening model reflected the determination of diaspora audiences to access their own cultural and political history when official channels fail them. For Surrey's large Punjabi-Sikh community, the screenings carried particular resonance given the city's ongoing engagement with the case of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, whose assassination at a Surrey Gurdwara had placed Indo-Canadian Sikh activism at the centre of a historic diplomatic crisis between Canada and India. Community turnout at the screenings was described as strong, underscoring how a banned film can find new life through diaspora solidarity networks. [4]
Sources: [2] Radio-Canada · [4] CBC