Canada, Once Again on the World Stage

"Amid the ongoing diplomatic tensions between India and Canada over the killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, sources have revealed that the Khalistani leader was found to be at flight risk in the United States and was on USA’s no-fly list in 2019."

"Meanwhile, in contradiction to Trudeau’s recent support to the Khalistani activist, it has been learned that Nijjar was also included in Canada's no-fly list in 2017–18."

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"Murdered Khalistani separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a designated terrorist in India, was allegedly involved in crime since the 1980s and had connections with local goons from a young age, a detailed dossier prepared by Indian authorities, and accessed by NDTV, revealed. It further says Nijjar, who fled to Canada on a forged passport in 1996 and maintained a low profile as a truck driver there, travelled to Pakistan for arms and explosives training. He also allegedly ordered several killings and attacks in Punjab while taking refuge on Canadian soil."

"Later, he allegedly came in touch with Pakistan based KTF Chief, Jagtar Singh Tara. He also visited Pakistan in the garb of a Baisakhi jatha member in April 2012 and underwent an arms and explosive training there for a fortnight, the dossier said."

NDTV legacy news outlet

 

"In light of the current environment where tensions have heightened, we are taking action to ensure the safety of our diplomats."

"As a result, and out of an abundance of caution, we have decided to temporarily adjust staff presence in India."

Jean-Pierre Godbout, spokesperson, Global Affairs Canada

 

"There is no question that India is a country of growing importance. And a country that we need to continue to work with."

"We're not looking to provoke or cause problems. But we are unequivocal around the importance of the rule of law and unequivocal about the importance of protecting Canadians and standing up for our values."

"We call upon the government of India to work with us to take seriously these allegations and to allow justice to follow its course."

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau

 

"[It appears Canada's allegations] are primarily politically driven."

"No specific information has been shared by Canada on this case. We are willing to look at any specific information; we have conveyed this to the Canadians."

Indian External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi

India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi greets Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau ahead of the G20 Leaders' Summit in New Delhi on Sept. 9  Evan Vucci—POOL/AFP/Getty Images

 

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's accusation on Monday that the Indian government had a role in orchestrating an assassination of a Canadian Sikh embroiled in Khalistani agitation against India did not go down well in India. As a prime minister with a personal background in administrative malfeasance, lapse of ethical conduct, theatrical and embarrassing behaviour on the world stage, while at home pushing a woke agenda on mostly unwilling Canadians whom he refers to as 'racist' and 'homophobic' for their protests, and having alienated one end of the country from the other by his environmental politics, it is hard for many to take his accusations seriously.

 

In June of this year a Surrey, B.C. resident with citizenship in Canada, Hardeep Singh Nijjar -- described variously as a "Sikh community leader" and a "peaceful advocate for Sikh independence" as president of the Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara in Surrey -- was gunned down in the parking lot of the gurdwara by two masked thugs who fled the scene and whose identities remain unknown. In India, on the other hand, the man had a notorious reputation as a terrorist: a "terrorist fugitive from India who emigrated to Canada".

 

On his disastrously embarrassing 2018 trip to India, Justin Trudeau had been handed a list of "Khalistani operatives in Canada" by Amarinder Singh, at the time chief minister of Punjab province. Nijjar's name was on that list. Canada has a reputation of harbouring Sikh separatists. Khalistanis, as they are called, are known to be extremists and have been involved in violent incidents in the past, not the least of which was their bombing of Air India Flight 182, which killed 329 people -- most of whom were Canadian-Indian Hindus -- in mid-flight over Ireland in 1985.

 

A banner with the image of Khalistani extremist Hardeep Singh Nijjar is seen at the Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara temple in Surrey, British Columbia (REUTERS)

Little wonder that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is convinced that Canada has done nothing to prevent the threat of violence against its diplomats assigned to Canada on the evidence, blatant and ignored. There are more incidents of agitation for a Punjab Khalistani homeland out of Canadian Sikh separatists than there is among Punjab majority-Sikh residents where it is now considered a non-issue. The provocations and threats emanate from among Canadian Sikh separatists who stage loud protests in Vancouver and Toronto with placards openly threatening Indian diplomats.

One parade float in Brampton Ontario glorified the 1984 assassination of former Indian prime minister Indira Gandhi by her trusted Sikh bodyguards. And then there was the issue of an unofficial Khalistani secessionist referendum held in the Toronto area a year ago, a referendum that Hardeep Singh Nijjar was deeply involved with. Billboards in Surrey in the aftermath of Nijjar's killing were emblazoned with "assassination wanted", listing names and photographs of Indian diplomats. 

Little wonder the government of India is convinced that Canada is wholly indifferent to the safety and security of its large expatriate Indian community, both Hindu and Sikh, living in Canada, almost two million in combined numbers, much less the large number of Indian students who come to Canada for their post-secondary education in a fellow democracy.

Supporters of the Khalistan movement, a push for an independent Sikh homeland in northern India, protest outside the Consulate General of India in Vancouver on Sept. 8. (Ben Nelms/CBC)