In an escalation of the continued diplomatic row between India and Canada over what the latter describes as a “marketing campaign of violence” in opposition to Sikh separatists on Canadian soil, Ottawa expelled Indian excessive commissioner Sanjay Kumar Verma, alongside 5 different Indian diplomats on Monday.
It’s the newest growth in a dispute initially triggered by the homicide of a Sikh separatist chief, Hardeep Singh Nijjar, in Canada in June 2023.
In a tit-for-tat transfer, India’s overseas ministry mentioned New Delhi would expel six Canadian diplomats – together with the performing excessive commissioner – and gave them till Saturday to depart the nation.
However diplomatic tensions between India and Canada began earlier than Nijjar’s killing. Here’s a timeline of occasions main as much as the most recent developments.
February 2018: Controversy over Trudeau’s India dinner
Throughout a go to to India, Trudeau attended a proper dinner hosted by the Canadian Excessive Commissioner in New Delhi. Canadian media mentioned the aim of Trudeau’s go to was to clean diplomatic and commerce relations with India after brewing tensions over what India perceived as help for Sikh separatism – particularly, the Khalistan motion – within the Canadian diaspora.
Khalistan is the identify of the proposed state envisioned by some Sikhs in a motion that emerged in India within the Nineteen Seventies and early Eighties. Whereas the unique motion principally died away, it has seen some resurgence amongst diasporic Sikh communities in Europe and North America, particularly Canada, the place 771,790 Sikhs reside as of the 2021 census. Canada has the biggest Sikh inhabitants exterior of India’s Punjab.
The controversy over Trudeau’s dinner with the Canadian Excessive Commissioner centred round Jaspal Singh Atwal, a Canadian-Indian former member of a Sikh separatist group known as the Worldwide Sikh Youth Federation. The group is listed on Canada’s Public Security Web site as a terrorist organisation. Atwal, who was additionally invited to the dinner, had been convicted in Canada for being concerned in a 1986 assassination try of the cupboard minister for India’s Punjab state.
Two days earlier than the dinner in 2018, Atwal additionally attended one other occasion linked to Trudeau’s go to and was photographed alongside the Canadian PM’s then-wife, Sophie Trudeau. This brought about upset in India main Trudeau to rescind the invitation to Atwal. He advised Indian media that Atwal mustn’t have been invited within the first place.
Atwal issued an apology at a information convention, saying: “I don’t advocate for an unbiased Sikh nation. I, just like the overwhelming majority of Sikhs who as soon as advocated for this trigger, have reconciled with the nation of India.”
In late 2020, lots of of 1000’s of farmers in India marched to New Delhi to protest new agricultural legal guidelines which they mentioned would injury their livelihoods. Police used tear fuel and water canons to disperse the protesters.
Trudeau expressed his concern in regards to the scenario at an internet occasion to mark the 551st delivery anniversary of Guru Nanak, the founding father of Sikhism.
The Canadian PM mentioned that his nation would “all the time be there to defend the rights of peaceable protest”.
India’s Ministry of Exterior Affairs issued an offended response, saying: “We have now seen some ill-informed feedback by Canadian leaders referring to farmers in India. Such feedback are unwarranted, particularly when pertaining to the interior affairs of a democratic nation.”
June 2023: The killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar
Sikh separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar, 45, was shot useless in Canada exterior a Sikh temple on June 18. The temple was positioned in Surrey, a Vancouver metropolis with a big inhabitants of Sikhs.
In 2020, he was assigned terrorist standing by the Indian authorities. On the time of his dying, Nijjar had been planning an unofficial referendum in India for an unbiased Sikh state.
Nijjar’s killing in June 2023 got here after a build-up of tensions earlier that month. On June 8, India’s overseas minister, S Jaishankar, criticised Canada for permitting a parade float in Brampton, Ontario, depicting the 1984 assassination of former PM Indira Gandhi, who was killed by two of her Sikh bodyguards after she allowed the storming of a Sikh temple.
September 2023: Commerce negotiations paused, G20 tensions
Canada unexpectedly paused commerce negotiations with India on September 1. An specific motive was not said, however an unnamed Canadian official advised Reuters information company that the pause was “to take inventory of the place we’re”. Nevertheless the official didn’t elaborate on what this was in relation to.
On September 9 and 10, the G20 convention held in New Delhi additional highlighted tensions between the 2 nations. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi held bilateral conferences with many world leaders, however snubbed Trudeau.
On September 15, a spokesperson for Canadian Commerce Minister Mary Ng mentioned Canada had postponed a commerce mission to India, which had been scheduled for October however gave no specific motive.
On September 19, Ottawa expelled an Indian diplomat and India retaliated by expelling a Canadian diplomat. The expulsion got here similtaneously Ottawa’s announcement that it was “actively pursuing credible allegations” linking Indian authorities brokers to Nijjar’s homicide.
India’s overseas ministry mentioned in a press release the expulsion of the Canadian diplomat was over “rising concern on the interference of Canadian diplomats in our inside issues and their involvement in anti-India actions”.
India additionally suspended its visa operations in Canada on September 21, citing unspecified safety threats. These visa restrictions had been lifted in late October.
October 2023: Canada pulls 41 diplomats out of India
On October 19, Canada recalled 41 of its diplomats from India after the Indian authorities mentioned it might revoke their diplomatic immunity and safety safety for his or her kin.
India’s overseas affairs ministry mentioned: “The state of our bilateral relations, the a lot greater variety of Canadian diplomats in India, and their continued interference in our inside affairs warrant a parity in mutual diplomatic presence in New Delhi and Ottawa.”
Canadian International Affairs Minister Melanie Joly decried India’s risk to revoke diplomatic immunity as a violation of worldwide regulation. Nevertheless, she mentioned Canada would proceed to interact with India.
Could 2024: Three males are arrested and charged with Nijjar’s dying
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) mentioned on Could 3 that three males had been arrested in an ongoing investigation into Nijjar’s killing.
The Indian nationals, Kamalpreet Singh, 22; Karanpreet Singh, 28; and Karan Brar, 22, had been arrested in Edmonton, Alberta, and charged with first-degree homicide and conspiracy to commit homicide.
On Could 11, Indian nationwide Amandeep Singh, 22, was charged the identical. He was already in custody of Canadian police for unrelated firearms prices. Canadian media reported he was in Canada on a short lived visa.
Canadian media reported that the case is ongoing and had been adjourned for the fifth time on October 1, 2024 whereas the Canadian authorities works to reveal case-related paperwork to the defence.
“This investigation doesn’t finish right here. We’re conscious that others could have performed a task on this murder, and we stay devoted to discovering and arresting every one among these people,” RCMP Superintendent Mandeep Mooker advised reporters.
October 2024: Canada expels six Indian diplomats
Canadian Minister of International Affairs Melanie Joly mentioned: “The RCMP gathered ample, clear and concrete proof which recognized six people as individuals of curiosity within the Nijjar case,” in a assertion on Monday.
At a information convention in Ottawa on Monday, Trudeau mentioned proof confirmed that Indian authorities brokers had engaged in actions that “threaten public security in Canada”, together with “clandestine information-gathering strategies, coercive behaviour focusing on South Asian Canadians, and involvement in over a dozen threatening and violent acts, together with homicide”.
He added that the small print the RCMP is ready to share in the meanwhile are “extraordinarily restricted”, however the proof introduced forth by the RCMP “can’t be ignored”.
India rejected the accusations, deeming them “absurd” and in flip ordering the expulsion of Canada’s performing excessive commissioner and 5 different diplomats by Saturday.
A press release from the Indian overseas ministry on Monday mentioned: “This newest step follows interactions which have once more witnessed assertions with none info. This leaves little doubt that on the pretext of an investigation, there’s a deliberate technique of smearing India for political features.”
The overseas ministry assertion went on so as to add: “The Trudeau Authorities has consciously offered area to violent extremists and terrorists to harass, threaten and intimidate Indian diplomats and neighborhood leaders in Canada.”
