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Agence France-Presse

India on Thursday called Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau “cavalier” over his handling of the disastrous diplomatic fallout following the 2023 killing of a Sikh separatist in Canada.
New Delhi held firm its defiant stance towards Ottawa – an approach in sharp contrast to its compliant attitude this week towards the United States, where India is also accused of directing a separate assassination plot.
Canada has alleged that India arranged the killing of a Sikh separatist, naturalised Canadian citizen Hardeep Singh Nijjar, murdered in the car park of a Sikh temple in Vancouver in June 2023.
India has called the allegations “preposterous”.

But Trudeau, at a parliamentary inquiry on Wednesday, said Canada had “clear … indications that India had violated Canada’s sovereignty”.
Canada’s top envoy to New Delhi, Stewart Wheeler, who India has ordered to leave by Saturday night, has said Ottawa had provided “credible, irrefutable evidence of ties between agents of the Government of India and the murder of a Canadian citizen”.
India’s foreign ministry spokesman Randhir Jaiswal on Thursday said they had not seen that evidence.
“Canada has presented us (India) no evidence whatsoever in support of the serious allegations that it has chosen to level against India and Indian diplomats,” he said in a statement.
“The responsibility for the damage that this cavalier behaviour has caused to India-Canada relations lies with Prime Minister Trudeau alone.”
Nijjar – who immigrated to Canada in 1997 and became a citizen in 2015 – had advocated for a separate Sikh state, known as Khalistan, carved out of India.


He had been wanted by Indian authorities for alleged terrorism and conspiracy to commit murder.
Four Indian nationals have been arrested in connection with Nijjar’s murder.
Last year, the Indian government briefly curbed visas for Canadians and this week both countries expelled each other’s ambassadors.
New Delhi’s response to Washington has been very different, with the US State Department on Wednesday saying India had told it that an intelligence operative accused of directing an assassination plot on US soil was no longer in government service.
US prosecutors charged an Indian citizen last November over a foiled attempt in New York to kill an advocate for a separate Sikh homeland.
The indictment described an “Indian government employee,” who was not publicly named, as recruiting the hitman and directing the assassination plot remotely, including by arranging the delivery of $15,000 in cash.
India’s Hindustan Times, quoting an unnamed US official, said on Monday that India not only removed but arrested the employee on “local charges.”
The State Department did not confirm the arrest.


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India

India hits out at Canada’s ‘cavalier’ Trudeau in Sikh murder row

Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Photo: Reuters

The Canadian High Commission in New Delhi, India. Photo: EPA-EFE

Sikh leader’s killing: Canada’s Trudeau says India made ‘horrific mistake’

Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau testifies at the Foreign Interference Commission in Ottawa on Wednesday. Photo: Canadian Press via AP

A motorist rides past the entrance of the Canadian High Commission in New Delhi, India, on Wednesday. Photo: AFP

US says India should take Canada plot allegations ‘seriously’

Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau walks past India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi as they take part in a wreath-laying ceremony at Raj Ghat, Mahatma Gandhi’s cremation site, during the G20 Summit in New Delhi in September 2023. Photo: Canadian Press via AP

‘A Trudeau problem’? How India’s ties with Canada fell apart over murder of separatist leader

Police personnel walk past the entrance of the Canadian High Commission, in New Delhi, India, on Wednesday. Photo: AFP

A photograph of late temple president Hardeep Singh Nijjar (back right) is displayed outside the Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara Sahib, in Surrey, British Columbia, Canada. Photo: The Canadian Press via AP

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Photo: TNS

Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau (left) walks past his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi during the G20 summit in New Delhi in September 2023. Photo: The Canadian Press via AP

Canada and India expel each other’s diplomats in growing feud over 2023 assassination

Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara temple in Surrey, Canada, where Sikh leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar was killed in 2023. File photo: Reuters

Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Monday. Photo: Reuters

Hardeep Singh Nijjar was shot dead in June, 2023. File photo: Instagram / BCSikh

The Indian High Commission building in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Photo: Reuters

News

Asia

South Asia

Relations between India and Canada deteriorate after the two countries expelled each others’ envoys


Relations between India and Canada deteriorate after the two countries expelled each others’ envoys.


Justin Trudeau

Diplomacy