Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Wednesday, a year after his first statement, that “clear evidence” showed that India had violated Canada’s sovereignty with the assassination, attributed by Ottawa to Indian secret services, of a Sikh separatist leader in 2023 in Vancouver.
Killed in the parking lot of a Sikh temple in Vancouver in June 2023, Hardeep Singh Nijjar, who had immigrated to Canada in 1997 before being naturalized in 2015, was wanted by Indian authorities for alleged terrorism and conspiracy to commit crimes. murders.
The announcement soured relations between the two countries. India thus temporarily restricted visas for Canadians and forced Canada to repatriate some of its diplomats. Tensions rose further on Monday with the mutual expulsion of ambassadors and five other high-ranking diplomats from the two countries.
If the tone rises with Ottawa, Delhi is being conciliatory with the American neighbor. According to a spokesperson for the US State Department, India assured Washington that it had fired a government employee indicted in the United States last November after a foiled assassination attempt targeting a Sikh independence activist in New York.
One analyst believes that “until India or Canada decides to ban trade in certain sectors, it is unlikely that bilateral trade will be affected” by the current crisis. Indian students also make up a significant portion of the Canadian education sector, but applications for study permits from India have declined.
The current crisis would make the resumption of negotiations on a free trade agreement unlikely. In the absence of factors that could reconcile the two countries’ perspectives, their relations are likely to remain strained, despite broader considerations.
