The Sikh murder row escalated more as India reacted furiously and expelled one of the senior Canadian diplomats. It is in reaction to Canada’s act of expelling one of the Indian diplomats.
India-Canada diplomatic row escalates as both countries expel one of the senior diplomats deployed. According to the reports, Canada expelled the RAW director in Canada after blaming the Indian secret agency involved in the murder of Hardeep Singh Najjar, a top leader of the Khalistan Movement.
The tension increased between the countries when Justin Trudeau informed the parliament about the killing of a Canadian citizen, Hardeep Singh Nijjar. He said in the parliament, “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. Any involvement of a foreign government in the killing of a Canadian citizen on Canadian soil is an unacceptable violation of our sovereignty.”
Trudeau further said that he raised the issue in front of Narendra Modi, the Indian Prime Minister, during his visit to Delhi last week to attend the G20 summit. India denied the accusations immediately and called it politically motivated and absurd. The Indian foreign minister replied with the following words, “We are a democratic polity with a strong commitment to the rule of law.”
Ottawa and New Delhi have been in front of each other for years because India thinks that Canada is promoting the Khalistan Movement by allowing Sikh separatists to settle in Canada. The recent tension arose when Justin Trudeau informed the inquiry of a Sikh leader. After that, the Canadian foreign minister told the media that Pavan Kumar Rai, a top Indian diplomat, had been expelled. The prime reason was the murder of Sikh, a Canadian national.
Hardeep Singh Najjar was killed on the evening of 18 June. He was found dead in Surrey, British Columbia, Canada, with multiple gunshot wounds. The location was Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara, and Najjar was in the car park near his pick-up truck. The Canadian police said that the killers were two masked men. According to media reports, Najjar was the president of the temple mentioned above. He was one of the most prominent Khalistan Movement leaders and campaigned in favor of this campaign for years. The Khalistan Movement is to create a homeland for the Sikh community in Indian Punjab.
The recent update is the statement of Melanie Joly, the foreign minister of Canada. She said in her statement, “If proven true, this would be a great violation of our sovereignty and of the most basic rule of how countries deal with each other. We have been clear that we won’t tolerate any form of foreign interference since this was brought to our attention.”
