Canada accuses India of being involved in the assassination of Sikh leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar near Vancouver last June and has expelled an Indian diplomat.
Canada and India are plunged this Tuesday into a serious diplomatic crisis, marked by reciprocal expulsions of diplomats, after Ottawa accused New Delhi, the day before, of being involved in the assassination of a Sikh leader near from Vancouver in western Canada.
• What happened?
Hardeep Singh Nijjar, 45, was murdered in his car in Canada on June 18 and since then, Canadian security agencies have been working to find the perpetrator.
In a speech after urgently summoning the leaders of the opposition on Monday, before Parliament, the Canadian Prime Minister, Justin Trudeauhighlighted the presence of “credible evidence that there is a possible link between agents of the Government of India and this murder.
“The involvement of any foreign government in the murder of a Canadian citizen on Canadian soil constitutes an unacceptable violation of our sovereignty,” he insisted, immediately ordering a senior Indian diplomat to leave the territory.
• Who was Hardeep Singh Nijjar?
Political activist and activist for the creation of a free state, Khalistan, in the current territory of Punjab, Hardeep Singh Nijjar was Canadian-Indian. He presides over a temple of the Sikh community, a small Indian religious minority – 2% of the population – whose philosophy is based in particular on the principle of refusal of caste and the equality of men and women.
• What was India accusing him of?
Hardeep Singh Nijja was wanted by Indian authorities and considered a “terrorist” by the National Investigation Agency (NIA), the Indian government agency dedicated to the fight against terrorism.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi had also expressed his “deep concerns about the continuation of anti-Indian activities of extremist elements in Canada”, according to a press release released after his meeting with Justin Trudeau at the G20.
In a letter addressed to Justin Trudeau in 2016, he said he was “unfairly targeted by New Delhi” for his peaceful activities, reports the daily The world. “I have never believed in violence, I have never supported it, and I have never been involved in violent acts,” he wrote.
• What diplomatic consequences?
Since the murder of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, relations between Canada and India have seriously deteriorated. At the beginning of September, Ottawa decided to suspend negotiations relating to a free trade partnership between the two countries underway since 2010.
“Trade negotiations are a long and complex process. We have decided to interrupt them to see where we stand,” said Federal Trade Minister Mary Ng to justify this surprising decision. A trade mission, scheduled for October 9 in Bombay, was also postponed without explanation.
In response to these accusations, India announced on Tuesday that it had in turn ordered a high-ranking Canadian diplomat to leave the country. “The diplomat concerned has been asked to leave India within the next five days,” the foreign ministry said in a statement.
New Delhi’s decision reflects its “growing concern over the interference of Canadian diplomats in our internal affairs and their involvement in anti-Indian activities,” the ministry explained.
Source: BFM TV
