WASHINGTON: The United States on Tuesday warned India to take seriously the allegations levelled by Canada regarding an assassination plot involving Indian agents, as tensions escalated between the two countries. The US urged India to fully cooperate in the ongoing investigation.
State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller emphasized the need for India to take serious steps in the current situation, saying, “We wanted to see India take seriously and cooperate with Canada’s investigations. They have chosen an alternate path.”
The diplomatic row escalated this week when both India and Canada expelled each other’s top envoys and additional diplomats following accusations that Indian agents were involved in the 2023 assassination of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a Sikh separatist leader, on Canadian soil.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said his government responded after police uncovered credible allegations linking Indian agents to Nijjar’s killing. Trudeau also accused Indian operatives of engaging in violent acts, extortion, and targeting members of the pro-Khalistan movement, which advocates for a separate Sikh homeland in India.
The expulsion of diplomats marks a significant escalation in the diplomatic dispute, with experts warning that the fallout could hamper the long-term prospects of India-Canada relations and complicate India’s global ambitions.
Praveen Donthi, a senior analyst at the International Crisis Group, said that the tensions would likely impact both countries. “India-Canada bilateral relations, which have been on a downslide since last year, will take a further hit which will take a long time to repair,” he said.
The row intensified after Canadian authorities identified India’s top diplomat in the country as a person of interest in Nijjar’s assassination. Canada claims to have gathered evidence pointing to an escalating campaign against Canadian citizens by agents of the Indian government.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has said that India had made a fundamental error in choosing to use their diplomats and organized crime to assault the citizens of Canada.
“As the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) commissioner said earlier, they have clear and compelling evidence that agents of India’s government have engaged in and continue to engage in activities that pose a major threat to public safety,” Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said following the news of the Indian diplomats being sent home.
Prime Minister Trudeau stated that this includes clandestine information-gathering techniques, coercive behavior targeting Canadians especially South Asian, and involvement in over a dozen threatening and violent actions, including murder. He said that this is completely unacceptable.
He said that Canada is a country rooted in the rule of law and the protection of their nationals is paramount. He added that they would never tolerate the involvement of a foreign government threatening and killing citizens of Canada on Canadian land.
Diplomatic relations between Canada and India sunk to a new low on Monday as each expelled six diplomats in tit-for-tat moves in an escalating dispute over the assassination of a Canadian Sikh activist in Vancouver last year.
Canada has said that agents of the Indian government were involved in the assassination of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a Canadian national and prominent campaigner for a sovereign Sikh state —Khalistan in India.
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.
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.
