• Ottawa angers Delhi by naming Indian envoy, five officials as ‘persons of interest’ in Sikh assassination inquiry
• India accuses Trudeau of pursuing a political agenda
• Canada says expelled diplomats were part of a ‘campaign of violence’

NEW DELHI: India ordered expulsion of six Canadian diplomats soon after a similar action by Canada as relations between the two countries nosedived on Monday over an ongoing investigation into the last year assassination of a Sikh activist in Canada.

The Indian action came in response to what it said was Ottawa’s decision to name the Indian envoy and others as “persons of interest” in the probe.

Canada said it was expelling the six Indian diplomats after police collected evidence that they were part of an Indian government “campaign of violence”.

India “decided to expel” six diplomats including Ottawa’s acting high commissioner Stewart Wheeler, his deputy and four first secretaries. “They have been asked to leave India by or before 11:59 pm on Saturday, October 19,” the foreign ministry said in a statement.

Earlier, New Delhi responded angrily to Ottawa’s claim that the Indian high commissioner was “a person of interest” in the investigation into the 2023 murder of the Sikh activist in Vancouver.

The Indian foreign ministry called out Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for courting Sikh activists who demand an independent homeland they call Khalistan or land of the pure. India describes them as extremists and terrorists whose help it claims the Trudeau government needs for its survival.

Canada reportedly named High Commissioner Sanjay Kumar Verma along with some unnamed officials as persons of interest in the killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar by assassins allegedly at the behest of Indian intelligence.

The accusation of India’s complicity was made by PM Trudeau in parliament and though India denied the charge, a US probe into a plot to kill its Sikh citizen strengthened the Canadian case, reports say.

Last month, the US District Court for Southern District of New York named the government of India, National Security Adviser Ajit Doval, former RAW chief Samant Goel in the summons related to the murder plot unveiled by US sleuths.

New Jersey-based Khalistan activist Gurpatwant Pannun was the target. Mr Doval is a routine member of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s delegation, but was absent from the team during the Indian leader’s visit to the US last month.

Monday’s Indian response to the naming of its envoy in the murder probe was withering. “We have received a diplomatic communication from Canada yesterday suggesting that the Indian High Commissioner and other diplomats are ‘persons of interest’ in a matter related to an investigation in that country,” the foreign ministry said in a statement.

“The government of India strongly rejects these preposterous imputations and ascribes them to the political agenda of the Trudeau government that is centered around vote bank politics.”

The statement said the Canadian government had not shared any evidence with India.

“This leaves little doubt that on the pretext of an investigation, there is a deliberate strategy of smearing India for political gains. Prime Minister Trudeau’s hostility to India has long been in evidence,” it said.

“In 2018, his visit to India, which was aimed at currying favour with a vote bank, rebounded to his discomfort. His cabinet has included individuals who have openly associated with an extremist and separatist agenda regarding India. His naked interference in Indian internal politics in December 2020 showed how far he was willing to go in this regard.

“That his government was dependent on a political party, whose leader openly espouses a separatist ideology vis-à-vis India, only aggravated matters.”

The Indian statement alleged that the Trudeau government has consciously provided space to extremists to harass Indian diplomats and community leaders.

“Some individuals who have entered Canada illegally have been fast-tracked for citizenship. Multiple extradition requests from the government of India in respect of terrorists and organised crime leaders living in Canada have been disregarded.”

Mr Verma is India’s senior most serving diplomat with a distinguished career spanning 36 years, the statement said, adding, “The aspersions cast on him by the government of Canada are ludicrous and deserve to be treated with contempt.”

With additional input from agencies

Published in Dawn, October 15th, 2024