India accused Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Thursday of causing the catastrophic diplomatic ramifications that followed the Sikh separatist’s death in Canada in 2023.
In stark contrast to its obedient behavior this week toward the United States, where India is also suspected of masterminding a separate murder plot, New Delhi maintained its firm defiant position toward Ottawa.
India is accused by Canada of orchestrating the June 2023 murder of Sikh separatist and naturalized citizen Hardeep Singh Nijjar, who was killed in the parking lot of a Sikh temple in Vancouver.
The claims have been deemed “preposterous” by India.
However, Trudeau stated that Canada had “clear… indications that India had violated Canada’s sovereignty” on Wednesday during a parliamentary hearing.
Stewart Wheeler, Canada’s top envoy in New Delhi, has stated that Ottawa has produced “credible, irrefutable evidence of ties between agents of the Government of India and the murder of a Canadian citizen.” Wheeler has been given orders by India to depart by Saturday night.
Randhir Jaiswal, a spokesman for India’s foreign ministry, stated on Thursday that they had not seen the evidence.
In a statement, he claimed that Canada had given India no proof at all for the grave accusations that the country had chosen to make against India and Indian officials.
“Prime Minister Trudeau alone is to blame for the harm this careless behavior has caused to India-Canada relations.”
Tit-for-tat
Nijjar had pushed for the creation of Khalistan, a distinct Sikh state, to be split off from India. Nijjar emigrated to Canada in 1997 and was granted citizenship in 2015.
Indian officials have been looking for him on suspicion of terrorism and murderous plot.
In relation to the death of Nijjar, four Indian nationals have been taken into custody.
The Indian government temporarily restricted Canadian visas last year, and this week the ambassadors of the two nations were removed.
The US State Department said on Wednesday that India had informed it that an intelligence officer suspected of masterminding an assassination plot on US soil was no longer employed by the government, reflecting New Delhi’s significantly different reaction to Washington.
An attempt to kill a supporter of a separate Sikh nation in New York was foiled, and US prosecutors prosecuted an Indian citizen in November of last year.
An “Indian government employee,” who remained anonymous, was accused in the indictment of hiring the hitman and supervising the assassination plan from a distance, including setting up the delivery of $15,000 in cash.
India dismissed the employee and arrested him on “local charges,” according to India’s Hindustan Times, which quoted an unidentified US official on Monday. The arrest was not verified by the State Department.
