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NEW DELHI – India expelled a Canadian diplomat on Tuesday after Canadian officials accused Indian government officials of shooting a Sikh leader in British Columbia and expelled an Indian diplomat they identified as an intelligence officer.
The alleged assassination attempt, which Prime Minister Justin Trudeau revealed in an explosive speech to Parliament on Monday, sent bilateral relations between the two nations sinking to their lowest point but also had far-reaching implications for relations between the U.S.-led alliance and India The Biden administration is eagerly touting itself as a strategic counterweight to China.
The expelled Canadian diplomat was not named in an Indian government statement but was identified by the Hindustan Times as the head of Canadian intelligence in New Delhi.
Trudeau says “credible allegations” link India to killings in Canada
The Indian government issued a statement on Tuesday dismissing Trudeau’s allegations as “absurd and motivated.” India’s foreign ministry further said Trudeau’s allegations “are aimed at diverting focus from the Khalistani terrorists and extremists who have been given sanctuary in Canada and who continue to threaten India’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.” The Canadian government’s inaction on the matter is has been a persistent problem for a long time.”
Hardeep Singh Nijjar was designated a terrorist by Indian security authorities in 2020 and accused of planning attacks in the Indian state of Punjab, home to around 16 million Sikhs. The Khalistan movement, of which he was a member, seeks to form a breakaway state called Khalistan in the Punjab region and has supporters both in India and in the large global Sikh diaspora.
Months before Nijjar was shot dead by masked gunmen in the parking lot of a Sikh temple outside Vancouver on June 18, India launched a campaign to put pressure on countries such as Canada, Australia, Britain and the United States that have significant Sikh communities. Communities live and which often pro-Khalistan protests to take action against the movement.
In London and San Francisco, protesters stormed the grounds of Indian diplomatic missions to raise their movement’s flag, angering the New Delhi government.
Trudeau said on Monday that he had recently expressed “deep concerns” about the killing to Indian security and intelligence officials and also conveyed them “personally and directly” and “unambiguously” to Modi at the G20 summit in New Delhi this month. He said Canada was reviewing the killing along with allied nations.
Trudeau’s India visit was fraught with tension. Modi’s office said at the time that the two leaders had discussed the Khalistan issue, and Modi expressed “India’s grave concern over the ongoing anti-India activities of extremist elements in Canada.”
Trudeau stayed in New Delhi a day longer than planned, which the Canadian embassy attributed to a technical problem on his plane.