In a tit-for-tat exchange, Canada and India each expelled six diplomats on Monday, part of an escalating dispute over the assassination of a Sikh activist in Canada in June 2023.
Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Jolly said Canada is expelling six Indian diplomats, including the high commissioner, after police uncovered evidence of targeted activity by Indian government agents against Canadian citizens.
Soon after, India’s foreign ministry said it would expel six Canadian diplomats, including the acting high commissioner and deputy high commissioner. Diplomats were told to leave India by the end of Saturday, it said in a statement.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said earlier on Monday that India was withdrawing its diplomats after Canada on Sunday rejected diplomatic communications from Canada, calling the Indian ambassador a “person of interest” in the assassination.
A senior Canadian official said Canada first expelled Indian diplomats and then withdrew its troops. Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly on the matter.
Jolly said in a statement that information collected by police established a link between the criminal investigation and Indian government agents. Jolly said India was asked to waive diplomatic and consular immunity and cooperate with the investigation.
“Unfortunately, due to India’s disagreement and in light of ongoing public safety concerns for Canadians, Canada issued deportation notices to these individuals. Following the issuance of these notices, India announced that it would withdraw its officers,” Jolly said.
canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau said last year there were credible allegations Indian government linked to June 2023 assassination in Canada Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar.
“The decision to deport these individuals was made after careful consideration and only after the RCMP collected sufficient, clear and concrete evidence identifying the six individuals as persons of interest in Nijar’s case,” Jolly said in the statement.
“We continue to ask the Indian government to support the ongoing investigation into Nijjar’s case because it is in the interest of both our countries to find out the truth,” she said.
Royal Canadian Mounted Police Inspector MacDuhem said police have evidence linking Indian government agents to other homicides and acts of violence in Canada.
He declined to provide specific details but said there had been more than a dozen credible imminent threats, leading police to issue warnings to members of the South Asian community, particularly those who support the Khalistan or Sikh independence movements. Attempts to hold discussions with Indian law enforcement were unsuccessful, he added.
“The team has learned substantial information about the breadth and depth of criminal activity orchestrated by Indian government agents and the corresponding threats to the safety and security of Canadians and individuals residing in Canada,” Duhem said.
RCMP Assistant Commissioner Brigitte Gauvin called the incident extremely concerning.
“The duty of Indian diplomats and consular officers is to protect the interests of nationals in Canada and the national interest and not to engage in criminal activities or intimidation, so we take this issue very seriously. This is undoubtedly a violation of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, “Gawain said.
India denies the accusation, calling it absurd.
Nijjar, 45, was shot dead in his pickup truck in June 2023 after leaving the Sikh temple he led in Surrey, British Columbia. An Indian-born Canadian citizen, he owned a pipeline company and was a leader in the once-powerful 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 his alleged role in attacks on Hindu priests.
In response to the accusations, India last year asked Canada to withdraw 41 of its 62 diplomats stationed in the country. Since then, relations between the two countries have remained frosty.
Support for the Khalistan movement is a thorny issue between India and Canada. New Delhi has repeatedly criticized the Trudeau government for being soft on supporters of the Khalistan movement living in Canada. The Khalistani movement is banned in India but has support from the Sikh diaspora, especially in Canada.
India has been asking countries such as Canada, Australia and the United Kingdom to take legal action against Sikh activists. India has raised these concerns specifically with Canada, where Sikhs make up nearly 2% of the country’s population.
“India reserves the right to take further steps in response to the Trudeau government’s support for extremism, violence and separatism against India,” the Indian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Monday.
The ministry also summoned Canada’s top diplomat in New Delhi and told him that “baseless attacks” against the Indian high commissioner or ambassador, as well as other Canadian diplomats and officials, were “totally unacceptable.”
“We have no confidence in the current Canadian government’s commitment to ensuring their safety,” the statement read.
Canadian diplomat Stuart Wheeler, who was ordered to leave India, told reporters after being summoned that his government had shared “incredible and irrefutable evidence that Indian government agents were linked to a Canadian citizen on Canadian soil.” There is a link between the murders”.
Wheeler said India must investigate the allegations and Canada “stands ready to cooperate with India.”
Meanwhile, the U.S. State Department said in a statement on Monday that India has set up a commission of inquiry to investigate an assassination plot Another famous Sikh separatist leader People who live in New York will travel to Washington on Tuesday to discuss the case as part of their ongoing investigation.
“Additionally, India has informed the United States that they are continuing efforts to investigate the former government employee’s other contacts and will determine next steps if necessary,” the statement read.
last year, United States, prosecutors Indian government officials said an Indian government official directed a plot to kill Sikh separatist leader Gurpatwant Singh Pannon on U.S. soil and announced charges against a man they say was part of this failed plot.
The Indian government official has not been charged and has not been named, but is described as a “senior field officer” responsible for security management and intelligence and is said to have served in India’s Central Reserve Police Force.
New Delhi expressed concern at the time after the United States raised the issue and said India took it very seriously.
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