This is a major escalation in the diplomatic crisis that has opposed New Delhi and Ottawa for several months. The two countries each expelled their ambassador and other high-ranking diplomats on Monday. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said India had made “a monumental mistake” by deciding “to use their diplomats and organized crime to attack Canadians”.
This statement comes after the Canadian federal police announced the “involvement of agents of the Government of India in serious criminal activities in Canada”, including the assassination of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a Sikh separatist leader in June 2023. Justin Trudeau described these “acts of violence” and “homicides” as “unacceptable”.
“We will never tolerate a foreign government threatening and killing Canadian citizens on Canadian soil, which constitutes a deeply unacceptable violation of Canadian sovereignty and international law,” he added in a solemn tone. , highlighting New Delhi’s repeated refusal to cooperate.
“Absurd” accusations
Hardeep Singh Nijjar, who immigrated to Canada in 1997 and had been a citizen since 2015, was wanted by Indian authorities for alleged “terrorism” and conspiracy to commit murder – charges he denied. He was shot dead in front of the Sikh temple he led in suburban Vancouver.
The death of this activist for the creation of an independent Sikh state in northern India, called Khalistan, soured relations between the two countries, with the Canadian Prime Minister declaring that there were “credible allegations » linking the Indian secret services to this crime.
Canada expelled six Indian diplomats on Monday, including the ambassador to Ottawa, suspected of being involved in the Nijjar affair. India quickly reacted by “deciding to expel” Ottawa’s acting high commissioner, his deputy and four other diplomats, ordering them to leave the country before midnight on Sunday October 20.
“We do not have confidence in the current Canadian government’s commitment to ensuring their security,” argued the Indian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, suggesting that the diplomats had been recalled and not expelled. He also described accusations that India was involved in the murder of Hardeep Singh Nijjar as “absurd”, seeing it as a “strategy of defaming India for political purposes”.
Other “homicides and acts of violence”
At the same time, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) announced on Monday that they had “evidence” on cases of “intimidation, harassment, extortion and coercion” on Canadian territory. RCMP Commissioner Mike Duheme suspects Indian government agents of being linked to “homicides and acts of violence”, “clandestine activities such as intelligence gathering” and “interference in government processes”. democratic”.
These revelations “are only just beginning to become known to the general public, but Sikhs have been experiencing them for the last four decades,” said Danish Singh, president of the World Sikh Organization of Canada, welcoming the decision of the Canadian government to expel Indian diplomats.
Since the assassination of Hardeep Singh Nijjar in June 2023, New Delhi and Ottawa have engaged in one-upmanship in diplomatic reprisals. Last year, India temporarily restricted visas for Canadians and forced Canada to repatriate some of its diplomats.
“India now reserves the right to take further action in response to these latest efforts by the Canadian government to make allegations against Indian diplomats,” its Foreign Ministry warned on Monday.
