On Tuesday, India rejected “absurd and motivated” accusations by Canada’s government that Indian agents were involved in the killing of a Canadian Sikh leader in June.
In a statement, New Delhi’s foreign ministry said that allegations of Indian Government involvement in any act of violence in Canada are absurd and motivated.
The row is sending already tense ties between the world’s most populated nation and G7 member Canada to a new low.
Justin Trudeau, the Prime Minister of Canada, had told an emergency parliament session that his government had “credible allegations” relating Indian agents to the killing of an ousted Sikh leader, Hardeep Singh Nijjar, in British Columbia.
He added that it was an “unacceptable breach of our sovereignty.”
Melanie Jolie, Ottawa’s foreign minister, said an Indian diplomat had been exiled, identifying them as the head of the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), an Indian foreign intelligence agency, in Canada.
Najjar, a Sikh separatist whom India had declared a most wanted terrorist — he had rejected the accusations– was shot dead near Vancouver.
We are a democratic polity with a strong commitment to the rule of law, the foreign ministry in New Delhi urged.
It said Trudeau — who visited the Indian capital New Delhi this month for the summit of G20 nations — had already made similar allegations to his counterpart Narendra Modi, and they had been “completely rejected”.
The accusations “aim to divert the focus from Khalistani terrorists and extremists, who have been delivered shelter in Canada and continue to terrorize India’s sovereignty and territorial integrity”, it added.
Canada has a considerable Sikh population outside India and New Delhi blames Ottawa for turning a blind eye to the actions of nationalists who aim for a separate Sikh homeland in northern India and elsewhere.
