On September 29, 2025, Ottawa did something it should have done years ago. It finally called the Lawrence Bishnoi network what it is — a terrorist organization — making it only the second Indian-origin criminal syndicate to be branded as such abroad, after Dawood Ibrahim’s D-Company: oddly enough, both funded by Pakistan

This was not some bureaucratic gesture. It was an overdue acknowledgment of a threat that had been festering in plain sight — nurtured not by oversight but by political caution and willful neglect. The Bishnoi gang isn’t just another street outfit. It’s a transnational network, structured and strategic, operating from prison cells in India to strip malls in Surrey. Its business model is built on fear — shootings, arson, and extortion — targeted primarily at Indian-origin communities in Canada. And it wasted no time reminding everyone of its reach. Just hours after Ottawa’s announcement, unidentified assailants opened fire on a Punjabi-Hindi radio station in Surrey that had dared to discuss the designation on air. No casualties, no arrests. Just another quiet warning shot in a campaign that has stretched from Brampton to Vancouver. For years, this kind of violence has been steadily escalating: extortion notes slipped under shop doors, gunfire at local businesses, cultural figures threatened or attacked. In Surrey alone, nearly 50 extortion complaints have been filed since late 2023. The Bishnoi gang has been tied to at least 50 violent incidents since 2023.

These are not isolated crimes. They are the visible edges of an underground empire. Ottawa had every warning it needed. India repeatedly flagged the Bishnoi network’s expanding footprint, its alliances with Khalistani extremist outfits, and its ties to Pakistan-based terror actors like Harwinder Singh Sandhu aka Rinda. For years, these warnings were met with a shrug and a familiar script: accusations of Indian “interference.” The Trudeau years will be remembered for this kind of political gymnastics. Instead of acknowledging organized crime for what it was, Ottawa folded it into its domestic political calculus — treating Indian intelligence warnings as geopolitical noise rather than urgent security alerts. Meanwhile, the gang operated freely. Its key figures — Goldy Brar, Lakhbir “Landa,” Arshdeep “Dala” — moved through Canada’s legal system with astonishing ease. One of them, Dala, was arrested after a nightclub shootout in Ontario. He was out on bail weeks later, his ankle tracker gone. That’s not law enforcement. That’s a loophole masquerading as justice. Canada’s problem is not capacity. It’s political will. Its legal framework is strong. Its law enforcement agencies are capable. But for years, its political class treated transnational gang activity as too messy to touch — especially when it intersected with influential diaspora politics.

That reluctance gave networks like Bishnoi’s room to breathe. It allowed them to recruit, operate, and embed themselves in communities they were terrorizing. It also gave them something more valuable than cash: impunity. By listing the Bishnoi gang as a terrorist entity, Ottawa has taken a necessary first step. It can now freeze assets, pursue prosecutions under anti-terror laws, and expand intelligence coordination. But let’s be clear — designations don’t stop bullets. Unless this move is backed by sustained operational action — arrests, extraditions, asset seizures, real intelligence cooperation with India — this designation risks becoming just another press release. New Delhi has cautiously welcomed the announcement. Behind that diplomatic language is a simple message: now prove you mean it. India has spent years watching Canada turn a blind eye to criminal-terrorist networks operating from its territory. It has handed over dossiers, issued extradition requests, and buried the conversation in diplomacy. Because the Bishnoi network isn’t just an Indian story or a Canadian story. It is the latest chapter in a larger global pattern: the convergence of organized crime and terrorism, thriving on jurisdictional gaps and political hesitation. These networks are not bound by borders, but they thrive where borders create blind spots. Canada became one of those blind spots. If Canada truly wants to reclaim control of its streets — and its credibility as a partner in counter-terrorism — it must stop tiptoeing around hard security questions for fear of offending political constituencies. This is not about diaspora politics. This is about the safety of communities. It’s about not allowing gangster-terrorists to exploit Canadian soil to target both Canada and India. Lawrence Bishnoi built an empire from a jail cell. Ottawa let him extend it across an ocean. The terrorist designation is the beginning of the reckoning — but only action, not symbolism, will decide whether Canada is serious this time.