Achi news desk-
Relations between Canada and India have been strained for years, as Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi have clashed over Sikh separatist elements in this country.
Canada is home to the largest Sikh community outside of India – about 770,000 people, or about 2.1 percent of the country’s population, according to federal data.
Some of those Sikh Canadians (experts suggest they are making amends a relatively small proportion of all) supported the creation of a Sikh homeland separate from India. They have sent money and resources to support the cause and have hold unofficial referendums here in Canadaactions that have been condemned by the Indian leadership.
Trudeau, like his predecessors, has said that Canada supports a “united India.”
It has not addressed Sikh separatist discourse, despite intense Indian pressure to do so. Some Sikh Canadians have defend the campaign for an independent “Khalistan”. as a peaceful movement for greater Sikh autonomy in India.
The sour relationship came to a head last fall when Trudeau said publicly that Canadian authorities had been “pursuing credible allegations of a possible link” between agents working for the Indian government and the murder of Sikh separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar the outside his gurdwara in Surrey, BC. in June 2023.
India rejected Trudeau’s claim as “absurd” and accused Canadians of meddling in “internal affairs.” Afterwards, the two countries kicked each other’s diplomats.
On Friday, Canadian police arrested members of a hit squad that allegedly killed Nijjar. Investigators have said they believe the alleged killers were detained by the Indian government.
Speaking to Punjabi media in Canada on the Sunday before those arrests, Trudeau said the Nijjar investigation will reveal some “very, very clear things that everyone around the world – including in India – will see in terms of the responsibilities and the participation.”
Here is a timeline of some of the events that have complicated Canada’s bilateral relationship with India, the world’s largest democracy.
February 2018
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is coming in for criticism after a tumultuous trip to India – a week-long visit meant to strengthen relations with the world’s largest democracy.
Trudeau had planned to use the trip to smooth over long-simmering tensions over support for Sikh separatism in the Canadian diaspora, and to strengthen Canada’s relatively weak trade relationship with India.
But the visit is halted when news comes that Jaspal Atwal, a BC man convicted of attempting to assassinate an Indian politician in Canada, is was invited by a Liberal MP to two events attended by Trudeau.
The invitation, although not endorsed by Trudeau, is a diplomatic embarrassment.
Justin Trudeau has been in damage control mode on his trip to India following revelations that a man convicted of trying to kill a politician was invited to an event with the Canadian prime minister. Jaspal Atwal, a former member of an extremist Sikh group convicted in 1986 of attempting to assassinate an Indian politician, was also photographed with Sophie Gregoire-Trudeau. It is just the latest piece of controversy in a trip that has already been heavily criticized for lack of purpose by Trudeau’s commentators and opponents.
Trudeau and his family are also mocked wearing traditional Indian dress during the visit, which attracts negative scrutiny at home and abroad.
June 2023
Trudeau’s national security adviser accuses India of being a major source of foreign interference in Canada, a public designation Ottawa had largely limited to authoritarian states up until that point.
In early June, India’s foreign minister, S. Jaishankar, criticizes Canada for allowing a float in a parade depicting the 1984 assassination of the then Prime Minister of India, Indira Gandhi, by her bodyguards. India sees the float as an effort to glorify violence by Sikh separatists.
Two weeks later, on the evening of June 18, Sikh community leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar was shot dead outside his gurdwara in Surrey, BC Congregants immediately called his killing a politically motivated attack.
Members of BC’s Sikh community say gurdwara president Hardeep Singh Nijjar was targeted by gunmen in the temple parking lot.
Nijjar’s death leads to heated protests against Indian officials throughout the summer.
The group Sikhs for Justice is calling on people to “besiege” Indian consulates and is offering cash rewards to the home addresses of Indian diplomats.
September 2023
In a surprise move, Canada is stalling talks on a proposal trade agreement with India. International Trade Minister Mary Ng is also postponing a trip to India, planned for October.
There is visible tension in New Delhi between Trudeau and Modi during the G20 leaders summit.
A week later, on September 18, Trudeau reveals that Canadian intelligence agencies are “pursuing credible allegations of a possible link” between the Indian government and Nijjar’s death.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says Canada is not looking to ‘provoke or escalate’ after he said in the House of Commons that there are credible allegations linking India to the killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a Canadian who supported the creation of a Sikh homeland in India.
India subsequently restricts visas to Canada ahead of the country’s wedding season. It eventually restores visa access in November.
New Delhi says it has concerns about the safety of its diplomats in Canada, although India’s High Commissioner, Sanjay Kumar Verma, said weeks earlier that he had no such concerns.
India Canadian brands is a “safe haven for terrorists, extremists” and “anti-India activities.”
Sources tell CBC News that the Canadian government has collected human intelligence and signals, including communications between Indian officials and Indian diplomats present in Canada, as part of the investigation into Nijjar’s killing. Some of the information was provided by an unnamed ally in the Five Eyes intelligence alliance, according to the sources.
October 2023
India cancels diplomatic immunity for 41 Canadian diplomats, along with security protection for their relatives.
That effectively forces two-thirds of Canadian diplomats in the country to go home.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says the Indian government’s move to revoke the diplomatic immunity of dozens of posted Canadian staff is against international law and something countries around the world should be worried about.
Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly denies the move but promises to hold further talks with India in private.
November 2023
A New York court is unsealing an indictment alleging a foiled murder-for-hire plot led by an Indian diplomat against a Sikh separatist earlier that year.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi says he will ‘look into any evidence’ that his country planned to assassinate perceived enemies on Canadian and American soil – his first comments on the matter since Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau brought them out publicly in August.
American officials claim that the organizers behind the plot were considering three other assassinations in Canada, including that of Nijjar.
January 2024
The independent inquiry into foreign interference in Canadian affairs is asking Ottawa to share information about possible Indian interference in elections.
New Delhi rejects the suggestion that it is behind such actions and reiterates its long-standing view that Canada allows Sikh separatists to interfere in its affairs.
March 2024
Bloomberg reports that the Indian government has given the US a report that acknowledges Indian agents were involved in the US assassination plot, but claims they were rogue operatives.
Exclusive security video obtained by CBCs The Fifth Estate reveals the elements of the highly coordinated attack that ended with the killing of Nijjar.
The Fifth Estate shows how a Canadian Sikh activist was allegedly killed by Indian government agents.
May 2024
CBC News reports that Canadian police have arrested members of an alleged hit squad that investigators believe was tasked by the Indian government with killing Nijjar.
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