Killing of Sikh activist

Canada expelled a top Indian diplomat Monday (18) as it investigates what Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called credible allegations that India’s government may have had links to the assassination in Canada of a Sikh activist, news agencies reported.

Trudeau told Parliament that Canadian intelligence agencies have been looking into the allegations after Sikh leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a strong supporter of an independent Sikh homeland, known as Khalistan, was gunned down on 18 June, this year, outside a Sikh cultural centre in Surrey, British Columbia.

“Over the past number of weeks, Canadian security agencies have been actively pursuing credible allegations of a potential link between agents of the government of India and the killing of a Canadian citizen,” Trudeau said in Parliament.

Trudeau said that he brought up the links between Nijjar’s murder and the Indian government with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the G-20 last week “in no uncertain terms,” adding that “any involvement of a foreign government in the killing of a Canadian citizen, on Canadian soil, is an unacceptable violation of our sovereignty.”

Canadian Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly said the head of Indian intelligence in Canada has been expelled as a consequence. “If proven true this would be a great violation of our sovereignty and of the most basic rule of how countries deal with each other,” Joly said. “As a consequence we have expelled a top Indian diplomat.”

The Indian Embassy in Ottawa did not immediately answer phone calls from The Associated Press seeking comment.

The World Sikh Organization of Canada on Monday said that Canadian intelligence and law enforcement agencies were aware of threats to Nijjar and other Sikh activists in Canada, having been alerted of the dangers by a number of sources.

“Nijjar had publicly spoken of the threat to his life for months and said that he was targeted by Indian intelligence agencies,” the organization said.

Trudeau said his government has been working closely and coordinating with Canada’s allies on the case.

“In the strongest possible terms I continue to urge the government of India to cooperate with Canada to get to the bottom of this matter,” he said.

“I know many Canadians, particularly members of the Indo-Canadian community, are feeling angry, or perhaps frightened, right now,” Trudeau added.

Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc said Canada’s national security adviser and the head of Canada’s spy service have travelled to India to meet their counterparts and to confront the Indian intelligence agencies with the allegations.