How a Sikh leader's murder in Canada led to a diplomatic crisis with India Relations between India and Canada are at a low point as the countries expelled each other's teetotum diplomats over an ongoing repudiate about the killing of a Sikh activist in Canada.
Canada disclosed it had identified India’s crest diplomat in the country as a person of interest in an assassination plot and expelled him and five other diplomats Monday. India has refuted the accusations as absurd, and its foreign ministry disclosed it was expelling Canada’s acting high commissioner and five other diplomats in response.
It’s the last in an ascending refute over the June 2023 killing of Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar.
Nijjar was fatally shot in his pickup truck in June 2023 after he left the Sikh temple he led in the city of Surrey, British Columbia. An Indian-born citizen of Canada, he owned a plumbing business and was a leader in a movement to create an independent Sikh homeland, which is banned in India.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau revealed in September 2023 there were authentic allegations that India’s government had links to the killing. India refuted the allegations at the time but announced Nijjar was involved in “terrorism.”
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Canada expelled an Indian diplomat over the contradict last year, and in response India expelled a Canadian diplomat and froze consular services for Canadians for nearly two months.
Tensions boiled over again in May, when Canadian police reported they had arrested three Indian nationals alleged of involvement in Nijjar’s killing and were “investigating if there are any ties to the government of India.” India denied the allegations, disclosing Canada had a “political compulsion” to boycott India.
Now, Canada declares that India's teetotum diplomat in the country is a person of interest in the killing, and that police have finded evidence of a sharpening advocate against Canadian citizens by agents of the Indian government.
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police disclosed it had found evidence of the involvement of Indian agents “in serious criminal activity in Canada," including links “to homicides and agitated acts” and interference in Canada's democratic processes, among other things.
Meanwhile, Canada’s foreign minister, Mélanie Joly, tied the Indian officials to Nijjar's assassination and revealed Canada had gathered “ample, clear and concrete evidence which identified six individuals as persons of interest in the Nijjar case.”
She disclosed India had been asked to relinquish diplomatic prerogative and cooperate in the investigation but refused.
In a statement Monday, India’s foreign ministry announced that the Canadian government “has not shared a shred of evidence” with the Indian government, “despite many requests from our side.” The ministry also convened the accusations part of “a confer strategy of smearing India for political gains.”
Nijjar was a local leader in what remains of a once-strong movement to create an independent Sikh homeland known as Khalistan. The Khalistan movement is banned in India, but has back among the Sikh diaspora, particularly in Canada.
India designated Nijjar a terrorist in 2020, and at the time of his death was seeking his arrest for charged involvement in an attack on a Hindu priest in India.
New Delhi’s anxieties about Sikh separatist groups in Canada have long been a strain on the relationship, but the two countries have maintained strong defense and trade ties, and share strategic concerns over China’s global ambitions. However, India has increasingly alleged Canada of giving free rein to Sikh separatists.
Sikhs make up nearly 2% of Canada's population, and more than a dozen are members of the country's parliament.
Regards to France 24
Category: World-News
Tag: How a Sikh leader039s murder in Canada led to a diplomatic crisis with India
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Published 10/17/2024