In response to the allegations, India told Canada last year to remove 41 of its 62 diplomats in the country. Ever since, the relations between the two countries have been frosty.
The pro-Khalistan, or Sikh independence, movement is a thorny issue between India and Canada. New Delhi has repeatedly criticised Trudeau’s government for being soft on supporters of the Khalistan movement who reside in Canada. The movement is banned in India, but has support among the Sikh diaspora, particularly in Canada.
Sikh man Hardeep Singh Nijjar was killed in Canada.
India has been asking countries like Canada, Australia and the UK to take legal action against Sikh activists. India has particularly raised these concerns with Canada, where Sikhs make up nearly 2 per cent of the country’s population.
The Indian Foreign Ministry said “India reserves the right to take further steps in response to the Trudeau government’s support for extremism, violence and separatism against India.”
The ministry also summoned the top Canadian diplomat in New Delhi and told him that “the baseless targeting” of the Indian high commissioner, or ambassador, and other diplomats and officials in Canada “was completely unacceptable”.
“We have no faith in the current Canadian government’s commitment to ensure their security,” it said.
Stewart Wheeler, a Canadian diplomat who was directed to leave India, told reporters after being summoned that his government has shared “incredible and irrefutable evidence of ties between agents of the government of India and the murder of a Canadian citizen on Canadian soil.”
Wheeler said India must investigate the allegations and that Canada “stands ready to cooperate with India”.
Meanwhile, the US State Department said in a statement that an Indian enquiry committee set up to investigate a plot to assassinate another prominent Sikh separatist leader living in New York would be travelling to Washington this week as part of their ongoing investigations to discuss the case.
“Additionally, India has informed the United States they are continuing their efforts to investigate other linkages of the former government employee and will determine follow-up steps, as necessary,” it said.
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Last year, US prosecutors said an Indian government official directed the plot to assassinate Sikh separatist leader Gurpatwant Singh Pannun on American soil and announced charges against a man they said was part of the thwarted conspiracy.
The Indian government official was neither charged nor identified by name, but was described as a “senior field officer” with responsibilities in security management and intelligence, said to have previously served in India’s Central Reserve Police Force.
New Delhi at that time had expressed concern after the U.S. raised the issue, and said India takes it seriously.
