CANADA, INDIA EXPEL DIPLOMATS AS POLICE UNCOVER ‘CAMPAIGN OF VIOLENCE’

Canada has expelled six Indian diplomats after a police investigation into “criminal activity” uncovered a “campaign of violence” against dissidents.

The move had initially been reported by several media outlets on Monday morning, before being confirmed by the Canadian foreign ministry in the afternoon. In a tit-for-tat move, the Indian fore ign ministry said that New Delhi had expelled six Canadian diplomats – including the acting high commissioner – giving them until Saturday to leave the country.

That came hours after India said it was withdrawing its top envoy to Ottawa and other diplomats because the Canadian government is investigating them as “persons of interest” in an investigation.

MODI, TRUDEAU COME FACE TO FACE AMID TENSION OVER NIJJAR MURDER CASE IN CANADA

India-Canada relations have been tense since September 2023 when Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Canada had credible evidence to link Indian agents to the assassination of Sikh separatist leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar on Canadian soil earlier that year.

Nijjar supported a Sikh homeland in the form of an independent Khalistani state and was designated by India as a “terrorist” in July 2020.

India has repeatedly denied the allegation that its agents killed him, challenging Canada to share evidence to back its claim.

In a press conference, the commissioner of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, Michael Duheme, said that the police had learned “a significant amount of information on the breadth and depth of criminal activity orchestrated by agents of the government of India, and consequential threats to the safety and security of Canadians and individuals living in Canada”.

FOURTH INDIAN SUSPECT ARRESTED IN CANADA IN CONNECTION WITH NIJJAR’S MURDER

On Monday, the Indian Ministry of External Affairs said it had summoned the Canadian charge d’affaires to denounce the “completely unacceptable” and “baseless targeting” of the Indian high commissioner and other diplomats and officials.

“We have no faith in the current Canadian Government’s commitment to ensure their security. Therefore, the Government of India has decided to withdraw the High Commissioner and other targeted diplomats and officials,” it said in a statement.

Earlier on Monday, the ministry said it had  “received a diplomatic communication from Canada suggesting that the Indian High Commissioner and other diplomats are persons of interest” in the ongoing investigation. 

The Canadian government has not commented publicly on the matter. Canada’s foreign affairs department, Global Affairs Canada, did not immediately respond to Al Jazeera’s request for comment on Monday, which is a federal holiday.

TRADE TALKS WITH INDIA WON’T RESUME UNTIL MODI GOVT. COOPERATES IN THE INVESTIGATION OF NIJJAR KILLING: CANADA

Vina Nadjibulla, research director at the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada, told Al Jazeera that the expulsions marked “a serious escalation in the diplomatic tensions that have been going on for over a year now between Canada and India”.

“We’re seeing a diplomatic rapture”, said Nadjibulla, adding that the response of other countries, including the US and other G7 countries, will likely play an important role.

“Canada is continuing to call on India to cooperate with the investigation, but India has refused to do that”, she added. “What will be decisive in this is the views of our key allies and partners”.

In its earlier statement, the ministry said India “strongly rejects these preposterous imputations and ascribes them to the political agenda of the Trudeau Government” and reiterated Canada has not provided any proof “despite many requests from our side”. 

“This latest step follows interactions that have again witnessed assertions without any facts. This leaves little doubt that on the pretext of an investigation, there is a deliberate strategy of smearing India for political gains,” the statement added.

FBI HAD WARNED AMERICAN SIKH ACTIVISTS ABOUT DEATH THREATS AFTER NIJJAR’S KILLING IN CANADA

“India now reserves the right to take further steps in response to these latest efforts of the Canadian Government to concoct allegations against Indian diplomats,” said the statement.

The Indian government also alleged the Trudeau government “has consciously provided space to violent extremists and terrorists to harass, threaten and intimidate Indian diplomats and community leaders in Canada”.

Canada pulled out more than 40 diplomats from India in October 2023 after New Delhi asked Ottawa to reduce its diplomatic presence.

In June this year, a committee of Canadian parliamentarians named India and China as the main foreign threats to its democratic institutions, based on input from intelligence agencies. 

India’s envoy in Ottawa, Sanjay Kumar Verma, called the report politically motivated and influenced by Sikh separatist campaigners.

Earlier this year, Trudeau said he hoped India would “engage with us so that we can get to the bottom of this very serious matter”.

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Soon after Canada’s allegation, the United States claimed that Indian agents were involved in an attempted assassination plot of another Sikh separatist leader in New York in 2023, and said it had indicted an Indian national who was working at the behest of an unnamed Indian government official.

The assassination plots against Sikh separatist leaders in Canada and the US have tested their relationship with India, as the Western nations hope to forge deeper ties with New Delhi to counter China’s rising global influence.