Canada expels top Indian politicians, links them to killing of Sikh leader Reuters
By Krishn Kaushik, Sakshi Dayal and Promit Mukherjee
New Delhi / OTTAWA (Reuters) – Canada expelled six Indian diplomats including its high commissioner on Monday, linking them to the killing of a separatist Sikh leader and allegations of a broader effort to target Indian dissidents in Canada.
Earlier, India retaliated by issuing an order to expel six high-ranking Canadian diplomats, including the acting high commissioner, and said it had withdrawn its ambassador to Canada, contrary to Canada's statement on the expulsion.
The diplomatic row represents a major deterioration in relations between the two Commonwealth countries. Relations have been strained since Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said last year that he had evidence linking Indian agents to the killing of Sikh leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar on Canadian soil.
The government now has “clear and strong evidence that agents of the Indian government have engaged in and continue to do things that threaten public safety,” Trudeau said at a news conference.
The operations involved secret intelligence gathering techniques, coercive behavior, targeting South Asian Canadians and engaging in more than a dozen acts of intimidation and violence, including murder, he said.
“This is unacceptable,” he said, adding that India had made a big mistake by engaging in criminal activities in Canada.
India has long denied Trudeau's allegations. On Monday, it dismissed Canada's initiative in the investigation and accused Trudeau of pursuing a “political agenda.”
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police said in an earlier press conference that the Indian government had carried out a wide-ranging campaign against Indian dissidents that included killings and extortion. It also used organized crime to target Canada's South Asian community and interfered with democratic processes, police said.
Brigitte Gauvin, RCMP assistant commissioner, said “what we saw…
He said the group “we believe…is linked to agents of the Government of India”.
India's National Investigation Agency (NIA) says Lawrence Bishnoi is the head of an organized crime group. He is being held in a jail in western India awaiting trial on terrorism charges.
Bishnoi's lawyer, Rajani, who uses only one name, said of the Canadian allegations that “this matter will be investigated, the investigation agencies will look into it. Whatever is there, it will be revealed.”
Regarding the NIA cases, he said that the cases are still being investigated and the final cases have not yet been initiated.
Canada's Department of Foreign Affairs said: “The decision to deport these individuals was made very carefully and after the RCMP gathered sufficient, clear and convincing evidence that identified the six individuals as persons of interest in the Nijjar case”.
India has said it will withdraw its diplomats from Canada because it is not sure that their safety can be guaranteed.
“We do not trust the current Canadian government's commitment to ensuring their security. Therefore, the Government of India has decided to withdraw the High Commissioner and the other diplomats and officials targeted,” India's Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement.
India also said it has asked six Canadian diplomats to leave on Saturday. The Ministry also said that it has summoned the Acting High Commissioner to India, Stewart Wheeler, who is currently Canada's top official in the South Asian country.
BIG DIFFERENCE
Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Joly said the government has asked India to waive the immunity of six diplomats so that Canadian investigative agencies can question them about alleged crimes.
But since India did not cooperate, they had to expel the diplomats.
“We don't want a political conflict with India,” he said. “But we will not remain silent as the embassies of any country are linked to attempts to threaten, torture or kill Canadians.”
Canada withdrew more than 40 diplomats from India in October 2023 after New Delhi asked Ottawa to reduce its diplomatic presence.
“We've gone from a fracture to a major fracture in relations with India,” Fen Osler Hampson, a professor of international relations at Ottawa's Carleton University, said in a phone interview. “It's hard to see at this point if a return to normal will happen anytime in the future.”
Canada is home to the largest Sikh population outside of their home state of Punjab and protests in recent years have angered the Indian government.
The United States also accused Indian agents of being involved in an attempt to kill another Sikh leader in New York last year, saying it blamed an Indian national acting on the orders of an unnamed Indian government official.
An Indian government committee investigating Indian involvement in the foiled assassination plot will meet with US officials in Washington this week, the State Department said on Monday.
Alleged assassination plots against various Sikh leaders in Canada and the US have tested their relationship with India as they look to build deeper ties with the country to counter China's growing global influence.
