Information reaching Kossyderrickent has it that Prominent Sikh leader, Hardeep Singh Nijjar, was on Interpol most wanted list before being killed in Canada.
India on Tuesday (September 19) expelled a top Canadian diplomat hours after Canada’s similar move of expelling an Indian diplomat.
The tit-for-tat moves mark a significant strain in the bilateral relations, coming at a time when India is already expressing displeasure over Canada’s perceived inaction regarding Sikh separatists advocating for an independent homeland they call Khalistan.
“This will certainly strain the relationship further, especially considering that the statement comes from the top leadership of Canada without substantial proof. Canada’s response to the protests also appears to be a knee-jerk reaction without much thought. India, in this situation, has legitimate concerns. If the Indian embassy is being attacked, the country has the sovereign right to register its protest, and that’s precisely what India has done. However, Canada has failed to recognise this,” Dr Dhananjay Tripathi, Associate professor and Chairperson at the department of International relations, South Asian University, New Delhi, told WION.
“If we compare it with the pro-Khalistan protest that took place in the UK, the government there dealt with it very sensibly. Canada bears a similar responsibility to ensure that such violence does not occur on its soil. Unfortunately, instances of violence have occurred in Canada and have been seemingly overlooked by Canadian authorities,” he added.
On Monday, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau described in parliament what he called credible allegations that India was connected to Nijjar’s assassination in British Columbia state in June.
The Indian government dismissed the allegations as “absurd” and asked Canada instead to crack down on anti-India groups operating in its territory.Nijjar supported the demand for a Sikh homeland in India’s northern state of Punjab, the birthplace of the Sikh religion, which borders Pakistan. He was reportedly organising an unofficial referendum in India for an independent Sikh nation at the time of this death.
Trudeau on Monday said any involvement of a foreign government in the killing of a Canadian citizen was “an unacceptable violation of our sovereignty”.
On Tuesday, India’s Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said allegations of India’s involvement in any act of violence in Canada are “absurd and motivated”.
The tit-for-tat diplomatic expulsions came after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Canada was investigating “credible allegations” linking India to the June killing of Canadian citizen and prominent Sikh leader, Hardeep Singh Nijjar.
“Over the past number of weeks, Canadian security agencies have been actively pursuing credible allegations of a potential link between agents of the government of India and the killing of a Canadian citizen Hardeep Singh Nijjar,” Trudeau said in parliament on Monday, adding his government would take all steps necessary “to hold perpetrators of this murder to account.”
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