No one has been arrested so far for Hardeep Singh Nijjar’s murder and police investigations are still going on. So, what prompted Trudeau to escalate the issue and accuse India of his killing based on “credible information” on the floor of parliament? And follow it up with the expulsion of an Indian diplomat?
India-Canada
relations that took a severe beating a fortnight ago after Canadian Prime
Minister Justin Trudeau, accused India of complicity in the murder of a
Canadian citizen and Khalistani terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar, are showing no
signs of recovery. The reason for this is simple; as External Affairs Minister
S Jaishankar puts it: “(Khalistan) separatism, crime, and terror all mixed up”
in this issue. Nijjar was shot dead outside the Gurdwara he presided over in a
suburb of Vancouver, British Columbia, on June 18, 2023. Trudeau chose on the
floor of Canadian parliament to accuse India for Nijjar’s killing, based on
“credible allegations of potential link” between Indian government agents. The
accusation shocked India, which dismissed it as “absurd and motivated.” The
Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) in a hard-hitting statement said: “Similar
allegations were made by the Canadian PM to our PM and were completely
rejected.” (It was referring to their meeting on the sidelines of the G20
Summit meeting. PM Modi had conveyed “strong concerns” about “extremist
elements in Canada” who were “promoting secessionism and violence against
Indian diplomats, damaging premises and threatening the Indian community in
Canada and their places of worship.”)
The MEA
statement further affirmed “such unsubstantiated allegations seek to shift the
focus from Khalistani terrorists and extremists, who have been provided shelter
in Canada and continue to threaten India’s sovereignty and territorial
integrity….the inaction of the Canadian Government on this matter has been a
long standing and continuing concern… The space given in Canada to a range of
illegal activities, including murders, human trafficking and organised crime is
not new.” It urged the Canadian government “to take prompt and effective legal
action against all anti-India elements operating from their soil.”
The issue of
Khalistan terrorist presence in Canada is not new; it had come up when the two
leaders met on the sidelines of the G-7 plus Summit in Germany in May
2022. Trudeau during his latest visit to New Delhi had confirmed that he
had discussed with PM Modi India’s concerns over Khalistani groups. He added:
“Canada will always defend freedom of expression, freedom of conscience, and
freedom of peaceful protest and it is extremely important to us. At the same
time, we are always there to prevent violence and to push back against hatred.”
The Canadian prime minister said the actions of a “few” did not represent the
whole community or country. That had been Canada’s refrain to soft pedal
Khalistan extremist activities.
Trudeau’s
actions cannot be dismissed merely as a diplomatic faux pas. It is easy to
attribute it to compulsions of domestic politics, because Nijjar was an influential
Sikh, involved in organising a “referendum” on Khalistan. As a militant leader
of Khalistan Tiger Force, Nijjar has a criminal record in India that secured
him two Interpol Red Corner notices. He visited Pakistan in 2013-14 where he
met with Jagtar Singh Tara of Babbar Khalsa International and was recruited in
the ISI. In 2020, India designated Nijjar a terrorist under the Unlawful
Activities (Prevention) Act. Last but not least, he was probably a double agent
working for Canada. His son Balraj Singh Nijjar has said his father had been
meeting with Canadian Security Intelligence Service officers “once or twice a
week”, including one or two days before his murder.
The American
ambassador to Canada, David Cohen, has clarified that the Canadian prime
minister’s allegation was based on “shared intelligence among Five Eyes
partners.” Five Eyes is an intelligence alliance between the US, the UK,
Canada, Australia and New Zealand. Originally, it was created as a US-UK
alliance in 1941 to share signals intelligence. In the post-war years, it came
to be known as Five Eyes after Canada, Australia and New Zealand were admitted.
Ambassador Cohen further added: “There was a lot of communication between
Canada and the US about this. We have been coordinating with the Canadians on
this issue. And from our perspective, it is critical that the Canadian
investigations proceed, and it would be important that India work with the
Canadians on this investigation. We want to see accountability, and it is
important that the investigation runs its course and leads to that result.” The
US, UK, Australia and New Zealand have been cautious in their comments; they
have expressed their concern and encouraged India to collaborate in the ongoing
investigation.
On the positive
side, Trudeau’s open accusation of India’s complicity in Nijjar killing has
provided India an opportunity to relook at its actions against Khalistan
extremism, both at home and abroad. This is evident from Jaishankar’s speech at
the “Discussion at Council on Foreign Relations” in New York. He said: “In the
last few years, Canada actually has seen a lot of organized crime, relating to
the secessionist forces, organized crime, violence and extremism. They’re all
very, very deeply mixed up….in fact, we have been talking about specifics and
information.
“Indian
government has provided the Canadian side with a lot of information about
organised crime and there has been a large number of extradition requests.
There are terrorist leaders, who have been identified,” he further added. “So,
we have a situation where our diplomats are threatened, our consulates have
been attacked….A lot of this is often justified, as saying that’s how
democracies work.” Jaishankar further said: “If there is any incident which is
an issue and somebody gives me something specific, as a government, I would
look at it.”
At home, India
has taken firm action. It is filing cases in the UK against 15 Khalistani
Indian passport holders, who had vandalised the Indian high commission premises
in London. The National Intelligence Agency (NIA) is currently carrying out
raids in 51 locations in six states targeting individuals linked to three
notorious gangs—Lawrence Bishnoi, Bambiha and Arshadeep Dalla—associated with
the Khalistani criminal network. The NIA has ordered the seizure of the Indian
properties of 19 Khalistani fugitives, including that of Gurpatwant Singh
Pannu, general counsel of the banned pro-Khalistan outfit Sikhs for Justice
(SFJ). India has temporarily closed its visa office in Canada and stopped the
entry of OCI and PIO card holders. These measures seem to have affected the
number of pro-Khalistan supporters gathering to protest outside the Indian
consulate in Vancouver after these orders. In the last count, there were hardly
a dozen protesters.
However, the
future course of India-Canada relations is not clear. Perhaps, some clarity
will emerge when the slated meeting of US National Security Advisor Jake
Sullivan and Jaishankar takes place in the next few days. Hopefully, some
measures can probably be expected to defuse the India-Canada standoff.
—The writer is a retired military intelligence specialist on
South Asia associated with the Chennai Centre for China Studies
No comments:
Post a Comment