Allegations from Canada that India was connected to the killing of a prominent Sikh leader have increased tensions between the two countries.
On Monday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said his government had received “credible allegations” that the government of India was connected to the killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a Canadian citizen and Sikh leader. Nijjar, 45, was outside a Sikh temple in Surrey, British Columbia, when he was shot by two masked gunmen on June 18, according to the BBC.
“Over the past number of weeks, Canadian security agencies have been actively pursuing credible allegations of a potential link between agents of the government of India and the killing of a Canadian citizen Hardeep Singh Nijjar,” Trudeau said in remarks to Parliament Monday.
Trudeau added that his government would “hold perpetrators of this murder to account,” and said, “Any involvement of a foreign government in the killing of a Canadian citizen on Canadian soil is an unacceptable violation of our sovereignty.” The prime minister called on New Delhi to work with Canada to “get to the bottom” of the killing.
So far, no one has been arrested in connection to the killing, but three suspects are reportedly being investigated.
India’s station chief for the external Indian intelligence service was expelled by Trudeau’s government on Monday, according to The Washington Post. In response to the allegations and expulsion, India expelled a Canadian diplomat, the outlet reports, citing Canadian diplomats’ “interference” in India’s “internal matters and their involvement in anti-India activities.”
Though Trudeau said he didn’t seek to “provoke or escalate,” India felt differently, denying any involvement and calling the allegations “absurd.”
“We urge the government of Canada to take prompt and effective legal action against all anti-India elements operating from their soil,” India’s foreign ministry said in a statement, adding that Prime Minister Narendra Modi “completely rejected” Trudeau’s allegations, according to The New York Times.
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India labeled Nijjar a terrorist in 2020 after the government alleged he supported attacks in Punjab — a state in India — and requested his extradition two years later. They said he was part of a militant separatist group called the Khalistan Tiger Force and connected to the murder of a Hindu priest in India, The Washington Post reports.
The Khalistan separatist movement is made up of Sikhs who support forming a new sovereign state in the Punjab region, which was split between Hindu-majority India and Muslim-majority Pakistan in 1947 during the partition of British India. Today, roughly 16 million Sikhs live in Punjab, India.
The Indian government accused Canada of giving shelter to “Khalistani terrorists and extremists” in a Tuesday statement.
“Such unsubstantiated allegations seek to shift the focus from Khalistani terrorists and extremists, who have been provided shelter in Canada and continue to threaten India’s sovereignty and territorial integrity,” India said. “The inaction of the Canadian Government on this matter has been a long-standing and continuing concern.”
According to the Post, the topic of Khalistan and the alleged assassination were brought up during the G20 Summit last week in India between Trudeau and Modi. The outlet reports that Modi had told the Canadian PM he had “strong concerns” about “anti-India activities of extremist elements in Canada,” per a statement from Modi’s office. It’s also expected to be brought up during the United Nations General Assembly meeting in New York this week.
White House Security Council spokeswoman Adrienne Watson said in a statement to CNN that the United States is “deeply concerned” about India’s potential role in the alleged assassination and mentioned the importance of the investigation, calling that “the perpetrators be brought to justice.”
“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. We are simply laying out the facts as we understand them.” Trudeau said Tuesday.