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Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, left, walks past Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi as they participate in a wreath-laying ceremony at Raj Ghat (cremation site of Mahatma Gandhi) during the G20 Summit in New Delhi, on Sunday September 10, 2023.
Sean Kilpatrick/AP
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Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, left, walks past Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi as they participate in a wreath-laying ceremony at Raj Ghat (cremation site of Mahatma Gandhi) during the G20 Summit in New Delhi, on Sunday September 10, 2023.
Sean Kilpatrick/AP
NEW DELHI — India on Tuesday expelled a top Canadian diplomat and accused Canada of interfering in its internal affairs, deepening its rift with Ottawa over its allegations of Indian involvement in the killing of a Sikh activist in Canada.
This came a day after Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said there were credible allegations that India was linked to the assassination of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a Sikh independence advocate who was shot dead on June 18 outside a Sikh cultural center in Surrey, British Columbia, and Canada expelled a top Indian diplomat. India has rejected the allegations, calling them “absurd.”
India has been battling a movement to establish an independent Sikh homeland known as Khalistan since the 1980s, when a raid on separatists at a major temple led to the assassination of a prime minister and a wave of anti-Sikh violence.
Nijjar was wanted by Indian authorities, who accused the activist of being involved in an alleged attack on a Hindu priest in India and had offered him a cash reward for information leading to his arrest. Nijjar was holding an unofficial referendum on Sikh independence from India at the time of his death.
Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, a lawyer and spokesperson for the Sikhs For Justice organization, said Nijjar had been warned by Canadian intelligence that he was a target for assassinations by “mercenaries” before he was shot dead.
Trudeau told Parliament on Monday that Canadian security agencies were investigating “credible allegations of a potential link between Indian government agents and the murder of a Canadian citizen.”
“Any involvement by a foreign government in the murder of a Canadian citizen on Canadian soil constitutes an unacceptable violation of our sovereignty,” he said.
India’s foreign ministry rejected the allegation as “absurd and motivated” and accused Canada of harboring “terrorists and extremists.”
“Such unsubstantiated allegations are intended to divert attention from Khalistan terrorists and extremists, who have taken refuge in Canada and continue to threaten India’s sovereignty and territorial integrity,” he wrote in a press release published Tuesday.
India has long demanded that Canada take action against the Sikh independence movement, which is banned in India but enjoys support in countries like Canada and the United Kingdom that have a large Sikh diaspora. Canada has a Sikh population of more than 770,000 people, approximately 2% of its total population.
Mourners carry the coffin of Sikh community leader and temple president Hardeep Singh Nijjar during Antim Darshan, the first part of a day-long funeral service for him, in Surrey, British Columbia, on Sunday June 25, 2023.
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Mourners carry the coffin of Sikh community leader and temple president Hardeep Singh Nijjar during Antim Darshan, the first part of a day-long funeral service for him, in Surrey, British Columbia, on Sunday June 25, 2023.
Darryl Dyck/AP
In March, the Modi government summoned Canada’s high commissioner to New Delhi to complain about Sikh independence protests in Canada. In 2020, India’s foreign ministry also summoned the top diplomat following comments made by Trudeau about a farm protest movement associated with the state of Punjab, where many Sikhs live.
Critics accuse Modi’s Hindu nationalist government of seeking to suppress dissidents and activists using sedition laws and other legal weapons. Some critics of his administration, including intellectuals, activists, filmmakers, students and journalists, have been arrested, creating what Modi’s opponents see as a culture of intimidation.
These dueling expulsions come against a backdrop of tense relations between Canada and India. Trade negotiations have been derailed and Canada has just canceled a trade mission to India planned for the fall.
Trudeau told Parliament he raised Nijjar’s killing with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the G20 meeting in New Delhi last week. He said he told Modi that any involvement by the Indian government would be unacceptable and requested his cooperation in the investigation.
At the G20 meeting, Modi expressed his “strong concerns” about Canada’s handling of the Sikh independence movement during a meeting with Trudeau at the G20, according to India’s statement.
The statement calls on Canada to work with India on what New Delhi sees as a threat to the Canadian Indian diaspora and describes the Sikh movement as “promoting secessionism and inciting violence” against Indian diplomats. Earlier this year, supporters of the Khalistan movement vandalized Indian consulates in London and San Francisco.
On Monday, Canadian Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly said the expelled Indian diplomat was the head of Indian intelligence in Canada.
Joly said Trudeau also raised the issue with U.S. President Joe Biden and British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.
“We are deeply concerned by the allegations raised by Prime Minister Trudeau,” said Adrienne Watson, spokesperson for the White House National Security Council. “We remain in regular contact with our Canadian partners. It is essential that Canada’s investigation continues and that the perpetrators are brought to justice.”
Canada’s New Democratic opposition leader Jagmeet Singh, who is himself Sikh, called it outrageous and shocking. Singh said he grew up hearing stories that challenging India’s human rights record could prevent you from getting a visa to travel there.
“But hearing the Prime Minister of Canada corroborate a potential link between the murder of a Canadian citizen on Canadian soil by a foreign government is something I could never have imagined,” Singh said.
The World Sikh Organization of Canada called Nijjar a staunch supporter of Khalistan who “has often led peaceful protests against the violation of human rights actively taking place in India and in support of Khalistan.”
“Nijjar had spoken publicly for months about the threat to his life and said he was the target of Indian intelligence agencies,” the statement said.
India’s main opposition party issued a statement supporting Modi’s position. The Congress Party wrote that “the interests and concerns of the country must remain paramount at all times” and the fight against terrorism must be uncompromising, especially when it threatens the sovereignty of the nation.
In 1984, Indian forces stormed the Golden Temple in the city of Amritsar to drive out Sikh separatists who had taken refuge there. The controversial operation left around 400 dead, according to official figures, although Sikh groups believe the toll is higher.
The prime minister who ordered the raid, Indira Gandhi, was later killed by two of her bodyguards, who were Sikhs. His death sparked a series of anti-Sikh riots, in which Hindu mobs went house to house across northern India, ripping Sikhs from their homes, killing many of them and burning others alive.
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