Canada expels Indian diplomats after tying government agents to ‘serious criminal activities’

Canada on Monday announced the expulsion of six Indian diplomats, including the High Commissioner, after police accused Indian government agents of being linked to killings, intimidation and other “acts of violence” against Sikh separatists in the country.

“Global Affairs Canada today announced that six Indian diplomats and consular officers have been served notices of deportation from Canada in connection with a targeted campaign against Canadian citizens by agents associated with the government of India,” said a statement shared by the ministry . led by Canadian Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly.

The extraordinary move has sharply escalated diplomatic tensions between the countries, with India in response quickly expelling six Canadian diplomats, including acting High Commissioner Stewart Ross Wheeler, according to an Indian Foreign Ministry statement.

The Indian government has called the allegations “ridiculous” and said it is withdrawing the officials expelled by the Canadian government. “There is a deliberate strategy to smear India for political gain,” the statement added on Monday. “The smears about (High Commissioner Sanjay Kumar Verma) are ridiculous and deserve to be treated with contempt.”

Joly said in a statement that the decision to expel the diplomats “was taken with great consideration and only after Canadian police gathered ample, clear and concrete evidence indicating that six persons were of interest in the Nijjar case,” referring to the murder. on Canadian soil last June from prominent Sikh separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar.

Earlier on Monday, the Royal Canada Mounted Police (RCMP) took the unusual step of making public details of multiple investigations into the involvement of Indian government agents alleged to have participated in “serious criminal activity” in Canada.

The decision to make the investigations public was made “due to the significant threat to public safety” and after efforts to address the issue with the Indian government failed to produce satisfactory results, RCMP Commissioner Mike Duheme told reporters.

Duheme said that since September last year there have been “well over a dozen credible and imminent threats” to the lives of members of the South Asian community, and in particular the “pro-Khalistan movement”, referring to a separatist movement among followers of the South Asian community. Sikh Independence.

“Despite law enforcement measures, damage has continued, posing a serious threat to our public safety,” Duheme said.

He added that the RCMP had found evidence of violent extremism affecting both Canada and India; links binding agents of the Indian government to killings and “acts of violence” in Canada; organized crime targeting Canada’s South Asian community; and interference in democratic processes.

“Investigations have revealed that Indian diplomats and consular officials based in Canada used their official positions to carry out clandestine activities such as gathering information for the Government of India either directly or through their proxies; and other individuals who acted voluntarily or under duress,” he said.

“The information collected for the Indian government is then used to target members of the South Asian community,” Duheme added.

Earlier this year, Canada charged several Indian nationals for the alleged murder of Nijjar, a Canadian citizen. At the time, authorities were investigating whether they had ties to the Indian government.

Nijjar was shot by masked men outside a Sikh temple in Surrey, British Columbia, last June. He was a prominent campaigner for a separate Sikh homeland outside India, which would become known as Khalistan and include parts of the Indian state of Punjab.

Last September, Trudeau said he had credible information linking the Indian government to Nijjar’s killing. The accusation infuriated India, which has strongly denied the claim, calling it “absurd.” The diplomatic fallout resulted in the expulsion of senior diplomats from both countries.

In its statement on Monday, the Indian government said that since Trudeau made these allegations, the Canadian government had “not shared a shred of evidence” and that recent claims had also been made “without any facts.”

The RCMP said Monday it had presented “evidence” directly to Indian government officials. “We continue to ask the Indian government to support the ongoing investigation into the Nijjar case as it remains in the interest of both countries to get to the bottom of this,” Global Affairs Canada added.

Campaigning for the creation of Khalistan has long been banned in India, where painful memories of a deadly uprising by some Sikh separatists continue to haunt many. But it is garnering a degree of public sympathy among some in the Sikh diaspora abroad, where activists protected by free speech laws can more openly demand secession from India.

Weeks after Trudeau’s announcement in 2023, the United States accused an Indian government official of being involved in a conspiracy to kill another Sikh separatist, American citizen Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, on American soil. A US indictment released in November accused an Indian national, Nikhil Gupta, of trying to kill Pannun, a wanted man in India and considered a terrorist by the government.

— This is a developing story and will be updated.

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