TORONTO (AP) — Canada expelled a top Indian diplomat Monday as it investigates what Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called credible allegations that the Indian government may have had ties to the killing of a Sikh activist in Canada.
Trudeau said in Parliament that Canadian intelligence agencies were investigating allegations after Sikh leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a strong supporter of an independent Sikh homeland called Khalistan, was shot and killed on June 18 outside a Sikh cultural center in Surrey, British Columbia .
Trudeau told Parliament that he raised the assassination with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the G-20 summit last week, that he told Modi that any involvement by the Indian government was unacceptable and that he sought cooperation with the asked for investigations.
Canadian Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly said the head of Indian intelligence in Canada was subsequently expelled. “If this proves to be true, it would be a major violation of our sovereignty and the most fundamental rule of how countries treat each other,” Joly said. “As a result, we have expelled a senior Indian diplomat.”
The Indian Embassy in Ottawa did not immediately respond to calls from The Associated Press seeking comment.
“In recent weeks, Canadian security agencies have been actively investigating credible allegations of a possible connection between Indian government agents and the murder of a Canadian citizen, Hardeep Singh Nijjar,” Trudeau said.
Trudeau said Canada has expressed its deep concerns to the Indian government.
“Last week at the G-20 summit, I brought them personally and directly to Prime Minister Modi, without a doubt,” Trudeau said. “Any involvement of a foreign government in the killing of a Canadian citizen on Canadian soil is an unacceptable violation of our sovereignty.”
Trudeau said his government had worked closely with and coordinated with Canada’s allies on the case.
“I continue to urge the Indian government to work with Canada to get to the bottom of this matter,” he said.
Trudeau said he knew there were some members of the Indo-Canadian community who were angry or scared and called for calm.
Public Security Minister Dominic LeBlanc said Canada’s national security adviser and the head of Canada’s spy agency traveled to India to meet their counterparts and confront Indian intelligence agencies about the allegations.
He called it an active murder investigation led by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.
Joly said Trudeau also raised the matter with U.S. President Joe Biden.
Conservative opposition leader Pierre Poilievre said that if the allegations were true, they represented “an outrageous affront to our sovereignty.”
The Khalistan movement is banned in India, where officials consider it and affiliated groups a national security threat. But the movement still enjoys some support in northern India and beyond in countries such as Canada and the United Kingdom, which are home to a sizeable Sikh diaspora.
Source : apnews.com