Canada accuses India of criminal activities on its territory

The diplomatic crisis between Canada and India, which began over a year ago, reached an acute phase on Monday, October 14, with the mutual expulsion of senior diplomats. This spectacular escalation came just hours after the Canadian Federal Police announced that they had credible and irrefutable evidence of the involvement of Indian government agents in serious criminal activities in Canada, covert activities such as intelligence gathering and interference in democratic processes.

Canada’s Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly said in a statement that she had asked New Delhi to lift the diplomatic immunity of six of its officials, including the ambassador, so that they could be questioned about a series of violent incidents against members of the Canadian government, particularly the South Asian community Sikh community, in many cities across the country. When New Delhi refused, they received an expulsion notice. India claims they have been recalled.

The allegations are extremely serious and follow the assassination of a Sikh separatist leader on Canadian soil in June 2023. Hardeep Singh Nijjar was shot dead in the parking lot of the Sikh temple he ran in Surrey, a suburb of Vancouver, British Columbia. This Canadian citizen had advocated for the creation of an independent Sikh state, Khalistan, in northern India.

Ottawa was quick to point the finger at India. On September 18, 2023, the head of India’s Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), Pavan Kumar Rai, was expelled from Canada. In November 2023, an event gave weight to the Canadian scenario: the American judiciary had again accused a RAW agent of recruiting a henchman to carry out an assassination attempt on Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, a Sikh separatist of American nationality. The conspiracy had failed.

Smear strategy

Canadian police and authorities now suspect Indian agents of involvement in other crimes and violence. According to the Washington PostIndia has set up a “chain of operations” in which Indian diplomats in Canada collect information on suspected Sikh separatists, which is then used by RAW to identify targets for attacks by a criminal gang led by Lawrence Bishnoi, who is imprisoned in India and whose organization is very well known and active in Canada.”

The American daily claims that this intelligence operation, carried out under threats and coercion, was monitored by India top diplomat in Ottawa, supported by an Indian spy official, and at the head of state by Amit Shah, India’s powerful and feared interior minister and Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s closest ally.

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