The diplomatic crisis between Canada and India, triggered more than a year ago, entered an acute phase on Monday, October 14, with the mutual expulsion of senior diplomats. This spectacular escalation occurred just hours after revelations by the Canadian federal police announcing that they were holding “credible and irrefutable evidence” sure “the involvement of agents of the Government of India in serious criminal activities in Canada”, of the “clandestine activities such as intelligence gathering” AND “interference in democratic processes”.
Canadian Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly said in a statement that she had asked New Delhi to lift the diplomatic immunity of six of its agents, including the ambassador, so that they could be questioned about “a series of violent incidents against members of the South Asian community, particularly the Sikh community, in many cities across the country”. When New Delhi refused, they received an eviction notice. India says they have been removed from the market.
The charges are extremely serious and follow the June 2023 murder of a Sikh separatist leader on Canadian soil. 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 campaigned for the creation of an independent Sikh state in northern India, Khalistan.
Ottawa quickly designated India. On September 18, 2023, the head of India’s foreign intelligence agency, the 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 justice system in turn accused a RAW agent of having recruited a henchman to try to assassinate Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, a Sikh separatist of American nationality. The plot had failed.
“Defamation strategy”
Police and Canadian authorities now suspect Indian agents of being involved in other criminal and violent acts. According to the Washington PostIndia has implemented a “operational chain in which Indian diplomats in Canada collect intelligence information on suspected Sikh separatists, which is then used by RAW to identify targets for attacks carried out by a criminal gang led by Lawrence Bishnoi, imprisoned in India, whose organization is very active in Canada. ».
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