HINDUTVA fanaticism has been exposed again. This time affecting the long standing Canada-India ties. The erstwhile key strategic partners on security and trade are now engulfed in the mire of mudslinging owing to the assassination of a Canadian Sikh community leader in Canadian territory. Earlier this week, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced that Canada was investigating “credible allegations” about the potential involvement of Indian government agents in the murder of Hardeep Singh Nijjar in British Columbia in June 2023.
Indian response was harsh when it vehemently rejected the allegations, declaring them “absurd”. Resultantly, Ottawa and New Delhi expelled each other’s diplomats, while India insisted on downsizing Canadian embassy officers in New Delhi. The recent G20 summit hosted by Delhi exacerbated the deteriorating ties. Justin Trudeau’s meeting with his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi was cold and accusatory. India retaliated by allegedly engineering a technical fault in the Canadian Prime Minister’s aircraft, delaying his departure by two days, causing him to lose face.
Sikhs have been promoting the separate state of Khalistan since the 1980s. In June 1984, the then Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi ordered the storming of the Golden Temple, one of the holiest sites for Sikhs in which separatist leader Sant Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale along with members of the Akali Dal was killed with his followers as well as innocent Sikh pilgrims. In retaliation, two of her Sikh bodyguards assassinated Indira Gandhi leading to a violent backlash against Sikhs all over India. Surviving Sikhs fled to Australia, Canada, the UK and USA, where most Sikhs rose to high positions in their countries of refuge. They have not forgotten the brutal massacre of their brethren in 1984 and later and many still subscribe to the call for Khalistan.
Mr. Modi fails to take into cognizance that there are more Sikhs in the Canadian Parliament than in the Indian Lok Sabha and they wield tremendous influence. Justin Trudeau declared in a blunt statement that Canada would always defend “freedom of expression” while acting against hatred. The Indian government retorted equally harshly that it had “strong concerns about continuing anti-India activities of extremist elements in Canada” who it accused of “promoting secessionism and inciting violence against Indian diplomats”.
It is no coincidence that in the near past, a number of prominent Sikh leaders have been assassinated and India’s involvement in their elimination has been suspected. Paramjit Singh Panjwar, chief of the Khalistan Commando Force, who was designated a terrorist by India, was shot dead in May 2023 in Pakistan – his killers haven’t been identified yet. In the UK, Avtar Singh Khanda, said to be the head of the Khalistan Liberation Force, died on 15 June in hospital. Khanda had been arrested in March after a demonstration in London where protesters pulled down the Indian flag at the country’s diplomatic mission.
The latest victim, Nijjar, 45, was shot dead outside a Sikh Gurdwara on June 18 in Surrey, a Vancouver suburb with a large Sikh population, three years after India had designated him as a “terrorist”. Nijjar supported the demand for a Sikh homeland in Indian Punjab. He was reportedly organising an unofficial referendum in India for an independent Sikh nation at the time of his murder. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau stated on 18 September 2023 that any involvement of a foreign government in the killing of a Canadian citizen was “an unacceptable violation of our sovereignty”.
The very next day, India’s Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said allegations of India’s involvement in any act of violence in Canada are “absurd and motivated”. It said the “unsubstantiated allegations” sought to shift focus away from “Khalistani terrorists and extremists who have been provided shelter in Canada”. Indian authorities announced a cash reward last year for information leading to Nijjar’s arrest, accusing him of involvement in an alleged attack on a Hindu priest in India. The Indian government has warned repeatedly over the years that Sikh separatists were trying to make a comeback. Modi’s government has also intensified the pursuit of Sikh separatists and arrested dozens of leaders from various outfits allegedly linked to the movement.
This is not the first time that ties between Canada and India have faced strains. Canada had reacted sharply to Indian nuclear tests in 1974 and 1998; India expressed its disappointment in 2005 after two Canadian Sikhs accused of a deadly Air India bombing were acquitted. On the plus side, Ottawa and New Delhi have a lot in common: “a shared tradition of democracy and pluralism” and “a common commitment to a rules-based international system”, as Canada itself admits. They are both Commonwealth countries and members of the G20 group of leading world economies. Canada, which wants a bigger footprint in Asia, sees India as a counterweight to China. Besides geopolitics, both the countries also have strong trade links and were on the verge of signing a Free Trade Agreement before relations soured.
India was Canada’s 10th largest trading partner in 2022, with bilateral trade in goods at $11.9bn that year, up 56% from the previous year. Narendra Modi’s government has been involved in ethnic cleansing of India by targeting minorities, especially Muslims, Sikhs, Christians and low caste Hindus—the Dalit. Although the West has been cognizant of Modi’s highhandedness, in the near past, New Delhi has been given a free pass because of its potential to act as a bulwark against China and the vast markets it offers to western products. Albeit, the Occident would not like to be forced to choose between India and Canada. So far, the UK, the US and Australia have given calculated statements.
Despite fears about his growing authoritarianism Mr Modi has maintained his position in the global mainstream. But killing Mr Nijjar, who was designated by Delhi as a terrorist for his championing of a Sikh homeland in the Punjab, takes India out of that mainstream and into the dubious company of “hit job” and rogue states, exposing its ugly visage. Modi has infuriated not just Trudeau but all peace loving citizens of the world.
—The writer is a Retired Group Captain of PAF, who has written several books on China.
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