India today expelled a senior Canadian diplomat in a reciprocal move over Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s charge that it played a role in the June killing of a Khalistani terrorist. The diplomat, who is unnamed, has five days to leave the country.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said his government had “credible allegations” linking Hardeep Singh Nijjar’s killing with the “agents of the Government of India”. The Indian government rejected the allegation as “absurd and motivated”.
Canada’s allegation was coupled with the expelling of a senior Indian diplomat, not named but identified by their foreign minister as the head of India’s Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) in Canada. This morning, India expelled a senior Canadian diplomat in a tit-for-tat move over the “interference of Canadian diplomats in our internal matters and their involvement in anti-India activities.”
The Indian government “completely rejected” the Canadian PM’s allegations and said their political figures openly expressing sympathy for “such elements” remains a matter of deep concern.
Hardeep Singh Nijjar, who headed the Khalistani Tiger Force and the Canadian arm of Sikhs For Justice (SFJ), was shot dead by unknown attackers near a gurdwara in Surrey in June. Nijjar, who was from Punjab’s Jalandhar, moved to Canada in 1997. He was wanted in India for being the “mastermind” of the Khalistani Tiger Force, a designated terror group in India.
Last July, the Indian anti-terror agency announced a cash reward of Rs.10 lakh on Nijjar in connection with the murder of a Hindu priest in Jalandhar, Punjab. Nijjar was also accused in the 2007 bombing of a cinema in Punjab. The NIA is also probing the recent attacks on Indian diplomatic missions in Canada, UK and US.
