OTTAWA: The Canadian government has formally expelled six Indian diplomats including High Commissioner Sanjay Kumar Verma after the Canadian national police revealed new details about the Indian government’s connection to “violent criminal activity” in Canada, mainly targeting leaders of the Khalistan movement.
Soon after Canadian officials notified India of the expulsion of the six diplomats, New Delhi recalled them, the Canadian sources said.
Canada earlier had warned India about the targeting of Sikh leaders by the Indian government.
According to sources the Canadian police had found concrete evidence of the involvement of these officials in the assassination of Sikh leader Hardeep Singh Najjar.
The development comes after Canada nominated the Indian High Commissioner Sanjay Kumar Verma and several other diplomats as “persons of interest” in the probe into the killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar.
Hardeep Singh Nijjar, who was an open proponent of the Khalistan movement, was shot and killed on June 18, 2023, outside the Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara in Newton, Surrey, British Columbia.
His body was found inside his car parked in the 7000-block of Scott Road. Later Canadian law enforcement arrested four individuals of Punjabi-Indian descent, charging them with the killing of a Sikh leader.
Ties between New Delhi and Ottawa have been on the decline since September 2023, when Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said that Canada had credible evidence linking Indian agents to the murder of a Najjar.
India has repeatedly said Canada has not shared any evidence with it to back its claim. India’s foreign ministry said it had received a diplomatic communication from Canada on Sunday, but the statement did not mention any details about the ongoing probe.
Canada had pulled out more than 40 diplomats from India in October 2023 after New Delhi asked Ottawa to reduce its diplomatic presence in the country.
In June, a committee of Canadian lawmakers had named India as the main foreign threat to its democratic institutions, based on input from intelligence agencies.
India’s envoy in Canada, Sanjay Kumar Verma, called the report politically motivated and influenced by Sikh separatists. Earlier this year, Trudeau said that he hoped India would “engage with us so that we can get to the bottom of this very serious matter”.
Soon after the allegation from Canada, the US claimed that Indian agents were involved in an attempted assassination plot of another Sikh separatist leader in New York in 2023.
