Canada expels six Indian diplomats over alleged involvement in murder of Sikh separatist

Canada on Monday expelled six senior Indian diplomats and consular officials, including the Indian high commissioner, citing them as “persons of interest” in the murder of Sikh separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar.

In June 2023, Nijjar was murdered by masked gunmen in Vancouver, British Columbia, after which three Indian nationals were arrested and charged with the crime. The investigation sparked a diplomatic row in September when Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau claimed the Indian government was involved in the killing.

New Delhi denies these allegations.

Canadian law enforcement authorities on Monday accused the Indian government of running a vast criminal network aimed at intimidating and targeting Canadian Sikh separatists.

Indian High Commissioner to Canada Sanjay Kumar Verma has been declared persona non grata by the Canadian government, along with a number of other officials, for their alleged role in criminal activities, extortion and homicide.

“The decision to deport these individuals was made with great consideration and only after the RCMP (Royal Canadian Mounted Police) had gathered sufficient, clear and concrete evidence that identified six individuals as persons of interest in the case Nijjar,” the Foreign Ministry said in a statement. statement.

The development marks a new low between India and Canada, with the potential to sever ties between the two Commonwealth nations.

The Indian government accused Trudeau of making the decision based on a “political agenda” and said he was withdrawing his diplomats from Canada.

“We have no confidence in the current Canadian government’s commitment to ensuring their security. Therefore, the Indian government has decided to withdraw the high commissioner and other targeted diplomats and officials,” the Indian Ministry of Affairs said foreigners in a press release.

On Monday, New Delhi also announced it would also expel six Canadian diplomats, including the Canadian embassy’s second-most senior diplomat, Stewart Wheeler, the charge d’affaires.

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Canadian law enforcement authorities have a “significant amount of information on the scale and depth of criminal activities orchestrated by agents of the Indian government and which pose consequential threats to security and safety of Canadians and individuals living in Canada,” the RCMP said in a statement. .

Law enforcement officials have said the Indian government is linked to homicides and extortion and has used organized crime to target Canada’s South Asian community and interfere in democratic processes.

The Indian government says Canada has yet to provide evidence of its investigation into Nijjar’s murder or India’s involvement in the assassination.

“This latest step follows interactions that have again resulted in assertions without any facts. This leaves no doubt that, under the pretext of investigation, there is a deliberate strategy to defame India to political purposes,” the Indian Foreign Ministry said on Monday.

Later on Monday, Prime Minister Trudeau issued a statement defending Canada’s actions, saying India’s response to the allegations had been denial, cover-up and personal attacks.

“(It) is clear that the Indian government made a fundamental error in thinking that it could support criminal activities against Canadians here on Canadian soil.

“We will never tolerate the involvement of a foreign government in threatening and killing Canadian citizens on Canadian soil.”

Canada withdrew more than 40 diplomats from India in October 2023 after New Delhi asked Ottawa to reduce its diplomatic presence.

Canada is home to one of the largest Indian diaspora communities in the world, with a population of just under two million, with Sikhs dominating the community at 36 percent, compared to 32 percent for Hindus.

The majority of the diaspora is concentrated in Ontario and British Columbia.

Assassination plot in the United States

U.S. prosecutors in New York in November charged an Indian national with the failed attempt to murder a U.S. citizen on U.S. soil, according to an indictment.

Authorities say an unnamed Indian government official recruited Nikhil Gupta, 52, who then contacted someone he believed to be a hitman, to kill Gurpatwant Singh Pannun. Pannun is a prominent Sikh activist and New York-based lawyer for the Punjabi secessionist group Sikhs for Justice.

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The individual Gupta contacted, however, was not a hitman but an undercover agent working for the United States Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA). According to Wednesday’s indictment, Gupta negotiated a deal in which the unnamed Indian government employee would pay the hitman $100,000 for the murder.

The indictment does not name Pannun as the victim. However, Biden administration officials later said the target of the botched assassination was the Sikh activist.

“The law enforcement officers and prosecutors in this case foiled and exposed a dangerous plot to assassinate an American citizen on American soil,” Assistant Attorney General Matthew Olsen said in a statement.

“The Justice Department will relentlessly use the full reach of our authorities to pursue accountability for deadly plots emanating from abroad.”

The indictment says the plot to murder Pannun took place in June, around the same time Nijjar was murdered.

Gupta was arrested the same month while in the Czech Republic, which has a bilateral extradition treaty with the United States. He faces charges that could earn him a 10-year prison sentence.