New Delhi

New Delhi, Old Tactics

The accusations against Indian government officials for plotting to kill Canadian citizens have vindicated Pakistan’s long-held view that India has been sponsoring terrorism in Pakistan.

By Col Muhammad Hanif (Retd.) | December 2024

According to PBS News, the US, dated 15 October 2024, India’s anxieties about the Canadian Sikh diaspora’s support for the demand of the Sikh majority population of the Indian State of Punjab for their right to self-determination to create an independent Sikh state (named Khalistan), have long been a strain on the relationship. Still, the two countries maintained strong defense and trade ties.

However, in June 2023, a diplomatic row started between Canada and India when Hardeep Singh Najjar, 45, an Indian-born Canadian citizen, was shot dead on June 18, 2023, by unknown assailants in Canada. And in September 2023, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau formally accused Indian authorities of being linked to Nijjar’s killing. Then, while Canada had expelled an Indian diplomat, India expelled a Canadian diplomat in response.

As published by the EFE on 15 October 2024, the diplomatic row was compounded when Canada announced the expulsion of Indian ambassador Sanjay Kumar Verma and five other diplomats on 14 October 2024 after the Royal Canadian Mounted Police said it had found evidence of the involvement of Indian agents “in serious criminal activity in Canada. India rejected the accusations as absurd and expelled the Canadian ambassador and five other diplomats.

Justin Trudeau accused Indian authorities of making a “fundamental error” in the killing of Najjar and added, “We will never tolerate the involvement of a foreign government threatening and killing Canadian citizens on Canadian soil, a deeply unacceptable violation of Canada’s sovereignty.”
As per Al Jazeera News dated 30 October 2024, Canada-India relations are touching a new low as Canada’s Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister David Morrison confirmed to the members of the national security committee on 29 October 2024 that the Canadian government considers India’s second-highest leader and a close ally of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Minister of India’s Home Affairs, Amit Shah, the architect of the campaign against Sikhs in Canada, which has included the assassination of an activist, Najjar.

According to Al Jazeera News, dated 14 October 2024, a year after Najjar’s assassination in Canada, the US authorities also accused an Indian government official of directing an unsuccessful/foiled plot to murder Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, a dual citizen of the US and Canada. The Washington Post had said that on 20 June 2023, Yadav, an officer of India’s RAW, had emailed Nikhil Gupta, an Indian man hired for the killing, that Pannun’s assassination was a “priority now.” Legal proceedings in the US Justice Department against Nikhil Gupta are underway, as the Chez Republic has extradited him to the US.

The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) recently published an article accusing Indian agents of harassing and threatening members of the Sikh diaspora in Australia. ABC had previously reported on Australia expelling an alleged “nest of spies” from India.

The assassination plots against Sikh citizens of Canada and the US and Australia’s concerns about India’s RAW activities are testing New Delhi’s ties with these countries, being their strategic partner to counter China’s rise. India is a lynchpin in the US’s Indo-Pacific strategy, a major US defense partner, and a member of the QUAD. It has also signed agreements with the US to share military logistic facilities with real-time satellite imagery and sensitive technology.

As per the DW News dated 17 October 2024, the US and the UK have recently sought to pressure India to cooperate with Canada in the investigation of Najjar’s murder. But India, an arrogant aspiring world power with the assistance of the US/West, will likely continue to resist the US/UK’s pressure, and Canada-India tensions will likely stay. However, India is cooperating with the US in investigating a foiled plot to kill Pannun.

According to DW, Indian foreign ministry officials think that the above-discussed allegations will not have adverse implications for India’s status as the US/West’s trusted ally. Given the above-stated serious allegations against India and the resultant diplomatic tensions, even if no major shift occurs in their strategic relations with India given the China factor, it is for sure that through its alleged state-sponsored terrorist acts in Canada/US to advance its national objectives, India has considerably shaken their trust.

Read More