India-Canada tensions hit crisis point after assassination allegations: Here’s what you need to know

India expelled a senior Canadian diplomat on Tuesday, slamming “absurd and motivated” claims that New Delhi had a component to play in an extra-judicial slaying of a Sikh activist in Canada.

Canadian intelligence businesses have been actively pursuing credible hyperlinks between Indian authorities brokers and the killing of a Canadian Sikh group chief Hardeep Singh Nijjar outdoors a Sikh cultural heart in British Columbia, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told a parliament seating in Ottawa Monday.

Nijjar, a robust supporter for an unbiased Sikh homeland named Khalistan, was killed on June 18.

“Such unsubstantiated allegations search to shift the main target from Khalistani terrorists and extremists, who’ve been offered shelter in Canada and proceed to threaten India’s sovereignty and territorial integrity,” India’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement. “The inaction of the Canadian Government on this matter has been a long-standing and persevering with concern.”

In retaliation, India expelled a senior Canadian diplomat after summoning Canada’s High Commissioner to the nation, the international ministry mentioned. This got here simply hours after Foreign Minister Melanie Joly announced that Ottawa had expelled a high Indian diplomat.

“Canada has declared its deep considerations to the highest intelligence and safety officers of the Indian authorities,” Trudeau mentioned Monday. “Any involvement of a international authorities within the killing of a Canadian citizen on Canadian soil is an unacceptable violation of our sovereignty.”

While Canadian leaders stopped wanting explicitly accusing India, they urged Indian authorities to totally cooperate within the investigations, with Joly emphasizing that Canada “won’t tolerate any type of international interference.”

Australia mentioned it was “deeply involved” about Canada’s allegations, whereas the United Kingdom mentioned it is in close contact with its Canadian companions over the matter.

Prior to the Group of 20 nations’ leaders’ summit final week, Ottawa had paused talks on a proposed commerce treaty with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party authorities.

While Canada views peaceable Sikh activism as a part of free expression, India views Canada’s continued tolerance as an endorsement of Sikh separatism that it regards as an infringement of its home affairs.

India Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar had on June 8 condemned online video footage of a parade float within the Canadian metropolis of Brampton that glorified violence and vengeance in its depiction of the 1984 assassination of Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.

“That Canadian political figures have overtly expressed sympathy for such parts stays a matter of deep concern,” India’s international ministry mentioned Tuesday. “The house given in Canada to a spread of unlawful actions together with murders, human trafficking and arranged crime will not be new.”

“We reject any makes an attempt to join Government of India to such developments. We urge the Government of Canada to take immediate and efficient authorized motion towards all anti-India parts working from their soil,” India’s international ministry added.

Trudeau mentioned he introduced the difficulty to Modi’s consideration “personally and straight … in no unsure phrases” once they met on the sidelines of the Group of 20 nations leaders summit in New Delhi final week.

In a readout after their meeting last week, Modi’s workplace mentioned he conveyed India’s sturdy considerations about “persevering with anti-India actions of extremist parts in Canada.”

He additionally mentioned they had been “selling secessionism and inciting violence towards Indian diplomats” and “threatening the Indian group in Canada and their locations of worship.”