Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has accused India of direct involvement in the killing of a Canadian citizen, who was a Sikh separatist, and announced the expulsion of six Indian officials.
The six were diplomats and consular officials. Trudeau said Canadian law enforcement had obtained “clear and compelling evidence that agents of the government of India have engaged in and continue to engage in activities that pose a significant threat to public safety”.
This includes gathering information and “coercive behaviour targeting South Asian Canadians”.
He said agents of the Indian government were involved in “over a dozen threatening and violent acts”.
In response, India announced that six Canadian diplomats, including acting high commissioner Stewart Ross Wheeler, would have to leave the country by Sunday.
The six expelled from Canada were “persons of interest” in the killing in June 2023 of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a well-known advocate of an independent Sikh state on Indian territory, Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Joly said.
Nijjar was shot dead outside a Sikh cultural centre in Surrey, on Canada’s west coast.
The Canadian Foreign Ministry said police asked New Delhi “to waive diplomatic and consular immunities and to co-operate in the investigation”, but was denied.
Relations between the two countries have been deteriorating since Trudeau in 2023 accused the Indian government of Nijjar’s killing – accusations that India rejected as “absurd” and politically motivated.
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