• India expels Canadian diplomat in tit-for-tat move; US, UK, Australia call for thorough investigation of Ottawa’s claim
• Washington ‘closely involved’ with gathering intel • Ex-Pakistan FM says India stands exposed

WASHINGTON: India on Tuesday expelled a Canadian diplomat, a day after after PM Justin Trudeau accused New Delhi of being involved in the assassination of a Sikh activist on Canadian soil.

“The concerned diplomat has been asked to leave India within the next five days,” it said in a statement. “The decision reflects Government of India’s growing concern at the interference of Canadian diplomats in our internal matters and their involvement in anti-India activities.”

The tit-for-tat actions sent relations between the two otherwise friendly nations plunging, even as Canada insisted it was not trying to provoke India, rather it wanted the issue to be addressed properly.

“The government of India needs to take this matter with the utmost seriousness. We are doing that; we are not looking to provoke or escalate,” PM Trudeau told reporters on Tuesday.

Asked why Ottawa had spoken out now, Mr Trudeau said: “We wanted to make sure that we had a solid grounding in understanding what was going on … we wanted to make sure we were taking the time to talk with our allies.”

US ‘closely involved’

But since the Canadian PM’s speech before parliament on Monday, new information has come to light suggesting that the United States was ‘very closely’ involved in intelligence gathering that led authorities in Ottawa to conclude that Indian agents had been potentially involved in the murder of Hardeep Singh Nijjar in British Columbia earlier this year.

Reuters quoted a senior Can­adian government source as saying: “We’ve been working with the US very closely, inc­luding on the public disclosure yesterday,” the source said.

The evidence in Canada’s possession would be shared “in due course”, the official said.

In Washington, US National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson told journalists the United States was “deeply concerned about the allegations referenced” by Prime Minister Trudeau.

“We remain in regular contact with our Canadian partners. It is critical that Canada’s investigation proceed and the perpetrators be brought to justice,” she added.

Response from world capitals

But while New Delhi looked to go on the offensive against Canada, the response from other world capitals was measured and more pro-Ottawa than India would’ve liked.

British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said on Tuesday his government backs a Canadian investigation to determine whether India was involved in Nijjar’s killing.

“I think it’s incredibly important that we allow the Canadian authorities to conduct their investigation,” said Cleverly, adding it would be “unhelpful” to speculate on their outcome.

In Canberra, a spokesperson for Australian foreign minister Wong said Australia is “deeply concerned by these allegations and notes ongoing investigations into this matter”.

“We are closely engaged with partners on developments. We have conveyed our concerns at senior levels to India,” said the Australian official.

Australia & Canada are members of Five Eyes intelligence-sharing group, along with US, UK & New Zealand.

Centre-stage at UNGA

Nijjar, 45, was shot dead outside a Sikh temple on June 18 in Surrey, which has a large Sikh population. He supported a Sikh homeland in the form of an independent Khalistan state and was designated by India as a “terrorist” in July 2020.

Michael Kugelman, a scholar of South Asian affairs at Wilson Center, Washington, said the UN General Assembly, which is currently holding its 78th session in New York, “could become centre-stage for the India-Canada crisis”.

He noted that PM Trudeau is scheduled to address the session later this week. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, however, is not attending the session.

“We’ll see if Trudeau repeats his allegations against India. Though the UNGA meetings also provide an opportunity for backchannel talks to try to ease tensions,” he said.

Murtaza Haider, a professor of management at the Toronto Metropolitan University and an active member of Canada’s South Asian community, said the rift with India has more to do with Canada’s domestic politics than anything else.

“Trudeau is battling a declining approval rating and a rise in the popularity of Pierre Poilievre, the opposition leader.

The Punjabi Sikh community in Canada is a vibrant and sizeable community that exercises significant power in Canada’s electoral politics.“

“This may be an attempt to protect some swing ethnic ridings in the next elections, which are still a couple of years away,” Prof Haider added.

Tensions between India and Canada have been simmering over the unsolved slaying, and Indian unhappiness over how Ottawa has handled Sikh separatists.

Trudeau was in New Delhi last week for the G20 summit and met privately with his Indian counterpart, but his visit was a testament to the strained ties between their countries.

Canada also recently suspended negotiations for a free-trade agreement with India.

India exposed, says Bilawal

Commenting on the issue during an interaction with the media on Tuesday, former foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari was pleased that India’s crimes on the international stage had been laid bare.

“India has been exposed before the world. How long will the international community, especially the West, continue to ignore such incidents and actions of India?

’’It is time for the international community to accept that India has become a rogue, Hindutva terrorist state,“ he said.

“Not only have we caught spies who were involved in terrorism in our country, they [India] have now been caught violating the sovereignty of a Nato-member state.

’’This is not only a violation of Canadian sovereignty, but international law and norms,“ Mr Bhutto-Zardari said.

Amjad Mahmood in Lahore also contributed to this report

Published in Dawn, September 20th, 2023