Canada’s accusation that India may have been involved in the assassination of a Sikh activist on its soil has triggered a growing row with Ottawa and New Delhi both expelling senior diplomats, sending relations between the two countries plunging.
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.”
Hardeep Singh Nijjar, 45, was shot dead outside a Sikh temple on June 18 in Surrey, a Vancouver suburb with a large Sikh population. Nijjar supported a Sikh homeland in the form of an independent Khalistani state and was designated by India as a "terrorist" in July 2020.
"Canadian security agencies have been actively pursuing credible allegations of a potential link between agents of the government of India" and Nijjar's death, Trudeau said.
Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, a lawyer and spokesperson for the Sikhs For Justice organization, has said Nijjar had been warned by Canadian intelligence officials about being targeted for assassination by "mercenaries" before he was gunned down.
Trudeau told Parliament Monday that Canadian security agencies were investigating "credible allegations of a potential link between agents of the government of India and the killing of a Canadian citizen."
"Any involvement of a foreign government in the killing of a Canadian citizen on Canadian soil is an unacceptable violation of our sovereignty," he said.
India's foreign ministry dismissed the allegation as "absurd and motivated," and accused Canada of harboring "terrorists and extremists."
Pierre Poilievre told the House that if the allegations are proven true, they represent an “outrageous affront” to Canadian sovereignty. He called on the Indian government to cooperate with “utmost transparency”.
But the most emotional appeal came from NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh, who is the first Sikh-Canadian to lead a major Canadian political party.
Singh, who is banned from travelling to India, spoke in Punjabi in the House.
“All I want to say in Punjabi is everything we heard today, we all knew as children that the Indian government commits many atrocities. But we never thought we’d have to face this danger after coming here, to Canada. I want to say to everyone, that I am here,” he said.
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