‘Irrefutable evidence’: Canada expels top Indian diplomats over link to violent crimes

New Delhi: A senior Canadian government official says that Canada has expelled six Indian diplomats, including the high commissioner, after police uncovered evidence of ongoing violent criminal activity linked to the Indian government.

Shortly afterwards, the Indian Foreign Ministry said it was expelling six Canadian diplomats, including the acting high commissioner and the deputy high commissioner. It said in a statement that the diplomats were told to leave India by the end of Saturday.

A banner that shows the late Sikh separatist leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar is displayed outside the Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara Sahib in Surrey, British Columbia.Credit: AP

The ministry had said earlier that India was withdrawing its diplomats, after rejecting Canada’s diplomatic communication that said the Indian ambassador was a “person of interest” in the June 2023 assassination of a Sikh activist in Canada.

A second senior Canadian official said that Canada expelled the Indian diplomats first before they withdrew. Both officials spoke on the condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorised to speak publicly on the matter.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said last year that there were credible allegations that the Indian government had links to the assassination in Canada of Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar.

India has rejected the accusation as absurd.

Nijjar, 45, was fatally shot in his ute 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 what remains of a once-strong movement to create an independent Sikh homeland.

India designated him a terrorist in 2020, and at the time of his death had been seeking his arrest for alleged involvement in an attack on a Hindu priest.

In response to the allegations, India told Canada last year to remove 41 of its 62 diplomats in the country. Since then, relations between the two countries have been frosty.

The pro-Khalistan, or Sikh independence, movement is a thorny issue between India and Canada. New Delhi has repeatedly criticised Trudeau’s government for being soft on supporters of the Khalistan movement who reside in Canada. The movement is banned in India but has support among the Sikh diaspora, particularly in Canada.

Sikh man Hardeep Singh Nijjar was killed in Canada.

India has been asking countries like Canada, Australia and the UK to take legal action against Sikh activists. India has particularly raised these concerns with Canada, where Sikhs make up nearly 2 per cent of the country’s population.

The Indian Foreign Ministry said: “India reserves the right to take further steps in response to the Trudeau government’s support for extremism, violence and separatism against India.”

The ministry also summoned the top Canadian diplomat in New Delhi and told him that “the baseless targeting” of the Indian high commissioner, or ambassador, and other diplomats and officials in Canada “was completely unacceptable”.

“We have no faith in the current Canadian government’s commitment to ensure their security,” it said.

A Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade spokesperson said Australia respected Canada’s judicial process and had conveyed concerns to India.

“Australia has made clear our concerns about the allegations under investigation in Canada,” the spokesperson said.

“Our position of principle is that the sovereignty of all countries should be respected and that the rule of law should be respected.”

The reports would be “particularly worrying” for some communities in Australia.

“Australian-Indian communities are valued and important contributors to our vibrant multicultural society, where everyone can peacefully and safely express their views,” the spokesperson said.

Stewart Wheeler, a Canadian diplomat who was directed to leave India, told reporters after being summoned that his government has shared “incredible and irrefutable evidence of ties between agents of the government of India and the murder of a Canadian citizen on Canadian soil.”

Wheeler said India must investigate the allegations and that Canada “stands ready to co-operate with India”.

Meanwhile, the US State Department said in a statement that an Indian inquiry committee set up to investigate a plot to assassinate another prominent Sikh separatist leader living in New York would be travelling to Washington this week as part of its ongoing investigations to discuss the case.

“Additionally, India has informed the United States they are continuing their efforts to investigate other linkages of the former government employee and will determine follow-up steps, as necessary,” it said.

Last year, US prosecutors said an Indian government official directed the plot to assassinate Sikh separatist leader Gurpatwant Singh Pannun on American soil and announced charges against a man they said was part of the thwarted conspiracy.

The Indian government official was neither charged nor identified by name, but was described as a “senior field officer” with responsibilities in security management and intelligence, said to have previously served in India’s Central Reserve Police Force.

New Delhi at that time had expressed concern after the US raised the issue, and said India takes it seriously.

AP

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