Canada expels Indian diplomats after tying government agents to ‘serious criminal activity’

(CNN) — Canada announced the expulsion of six Indian diplomats Monday, including the high commissioner, after the police accused agents of the Indian government of being linked to homicides, harassment and other “acts of violence” against Sikh separatists in the country.

Canada’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Mélanie Joly said in a Monday statement that the decision to expel the diplomats “was made with great consideration and only after (Canadian police) gathered ample, clear and concrete evidence which identified six individuals as persons of interest in the Nijjar case.”

The extraordinary step has sharply escalated diplomatic tensions between the countries, with India swiftly expelling six Canadian diplomats in response, including the acting High Commissioner Stewart Ross Wheeler, according to a statement from India’s Ministry of External Affairs.

Relations between both countries hit rock bottom last year when Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said he had credible information linking the Indian government to the assassination on Canadian soil of prominent Sikh separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar.

During a Monday press conference, Trudeau accused the Indian government of making “a fundamental error in thinking that they could engage in supporting criminal activity against Canadians here on Canadian soil, whether it be murders or extortion or other violent acts, is absolutely unacceptable for any country, any democracy, that upholds the rule of law.”

He said that was why the Royal Canada Mounted Police (RCMP) “chose to come out today and disrupt the pattern of Indian diplomats collecting, through questionable and illegal means, information on Canadian citizens that were then fed to criminal organizations that would then take violent actions from extortion to murder against Canadians.”

The Indian government has called the accusations “preposterous” and said it was withdrawing the officials expelled by the Canadian government. “There is a deliberate strategy of smearing India for political gains,” the statement added Monday. “The aspersions cast on (High Commissioner Sanjay Kumar Verma) are ludicrous and deserve to be treated with contempt.”

‘Serious threat to our public safety’

Earlier on Monday, the RCMP took the unusual step of publicly disclosing details of multiple investigations into the involvement of Indian government agents alleged to have taken part in “serious criminal activity” in Canada.

The decision to publicly disclose the investigations was taken “due to the significant threat to public safety” and after attempts to address the issue together with the Indian government had not yielded satisfactory results, RCMP Commissioner Mike Duheme told reporters.

Duheme said that since September last year, there had been “well over a dozen credible and imminent threats” to the lives of members of the South Asian community, and specifically the “pro-Khalistan movement,” referring to a separatist movement among supporters of Sikh independence.

“Despite law enforcement action, the harm has continued, posing a serious threat to our public safety,” Duheme said.

He added that the RCMP had found evidence of violent extremism impacting both Canada and India; links tying agents of the government of India to homicides and “violent acts” in Canada; organized crime targeting Canada’s South Asian community; and interference in democratic processes.

“Investigations have revealed that Indian diplomats and consular officials based in Canada leveraged their official positions to engage in clandestine activities, such as collecting information for the government of India, either directly or through their proxies; and other individuals who acted voluntarily or through coercion,” he said.

“The information collected for the government of India is then used to target members of the South Asian community,” Duheme added.

Earlier this year, Canada charged several Indian nationals with the alleged murder of Nijjar, a Canadian citizen. At the time, authorities were investigating whether they had ties to the Indian government.

Nijjar was gunned down by masked men last June outside a Sikh temple in Surrey, British Columbia. He was a prominent campaigner for a separate Sikh homeland out of India, which would be known as Khalistan and include parts of India’s Punjab state.

Last September, Trudeau said he had credible information linking the Indian government to the killing of Nijjar. The allegation outraged India, which has forcefully denied the claim, calling it “absurd.” The diplomatic fallout saw tit-for-tat expulsions of senior diplomats from both countries.

In its statement Monday, the Indian government said that since Trudeau made those allegations, the Canadian government had “not shared a shred of evidence” and that recent assertions had also been made “without any facts.”

The RCMP said Monday it had presented “evidence” to Indian government officials directly. “We continue to ask that the Indian government support the ongoing investigation in the Nijjar case, as it remains in both our countries’ interest to get to the bottom of this,” Global Affairs Canada added.

Campaigning for the creation of Khalistan has long been outlawed in India, where painful memories of a deadly insurgency by some Sikh separatists continue to haunt many. But it garners a level of public sympathy among some in the Sikh diaspora overseas, where activists protected by free speech laws can more openly demand secession from India.

Weeks after Trudeau’s announcement in 2023, the United States accused an Indian government official of being involved in a conspiracy to kill another Sikh separatist, American citizen Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, on US soil. A US indictment unsealed in November accused an Indian national, Nikhil Gupta, of trying to kill Pannun, who is a wanted man in India and considered a terrorist by the government.

Canada’s Foreign Minister Joly told Monday’s press conference that differences with the US investigation were that “a Canadian died here in Canada” and that “sitting diplomats were involved in violent incidents, and so that’s really important to remember, and that’s why we took the steps we took.”

— This story has been updated with additional information.

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