Sacrificing Canada-India Diplomacy for Domestic Votes

"We have repeatedly raised our strong concerns regarding the violent imagery being used by extremist elements in Canada against our political leadership."

"Celebration and glorification of violence should not be a part of any civi8lized society. Democratic countries which respect the rule of law should not allow intimidation by radical elements in the name of freedom of expression."

Shri Randhir Jaiswal, spokesman, Indian Foreign Affairs Department

"We would work with them on any evidence or any concerns they have around terrorism or incitement to hate or anything that is patently unacceptable in Canada."

"My position and Canada's position is to defend the territorial integrity of India. One India is official Canadian policy and the fact that there are a number of people in Canada who advocate otherwise does not make it Canadian policy."

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau

"Though times are quite different now, India always remembers the era of militant Sikh separatism in the 1980s and associates any separatist claims of positions with violence and militancy, as a threat to Indian safety, security, and sovereign integrity."

Neilesh Bose, associate professor of history, University of Victoria

India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau shake hands on the sidelines of the G20 summit in New Delhi on September 10, 2023. Photo by - /PIB/AFP via Getty Images

 

Canada has a long history of effectively shielding war criminals from the justice they deserve. Infamously, Nazi war criminals were given haven in Canada and although their presence in Canada as permanent residents and citizens has been well known to governments over the decades that passed since the Second World War, general disinterest in exiling them and returning them to their country of origin was dismissed but for a few rare instances under pressure from Jewish groups. And nor was it only WWII war criminals involved, but others as well, from Tamil Tigers living in Canada agitating for conflict in Sri Lanka, to Sikh Khalistani extremists violently expressing their hatred for India.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's pious words of 'Canadian policy' and his government's responsible attitude to having no tolerance for those preaching violence in Canada against their countries of origin is nonsense, unreflective of reality. Sikh separatists dedicated to forcing India to agree to splitting off part of their geography to satisfy its Sikh population's demand for a homeland and using violence to achieve that end finds itself right at home in Canada which hosts the largest expatriate Sikh population in the world outside of India itself where the Khalistani movement has calmed.

Charging the Indian government, as Justin Trudeau has done twice, in Parliament, with fomenting schemes of assassination in Canada to target extremist Khalistanis, represents diplomatic failures in communication and action on the part of Canada, alienating a collegial democracy for partisan political purposes. Official Canada appears to have conveniently forgotten the worst terrorist incident that Canada has ever experienced when Khalistanis in Canada plotted the bombing of Air India Flight 182 that killed over 300 people, most of them Indo-Canadians.

Former Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was assassinated by her own trusted Sikh guards during the violent insurrection period when Khalistani militants took haven in the Golden Temple at Amritsar and the Indian military fought a gunbattle with them at the gurdwara, the holiest of Sikh temples which the Khalistanis themselves had defiled by bringing weapons into the temple, and engaging with the military in that conflict in 1984. Since then, the Khalistani movement has been muted in India, but carried on with greater ferocity against India through extremists living in Canada.

Appeals by the Indian government of Narendra Modi for Canada to extradite convicted Sikh criminals to India to stand trial for their crimes have gone unheeded. As have appeals by Indian diplomats for Canada to respond to the public exhibitions of Khalistani protests and marches in Canada depicting the assassination of Mrs. Gandhi as well as the demonization of the Modi government. The Liberal Trudeau government has chosen to favour instead placating the Khalistani movement seeking an exclusive Sikh homeland carved out of India.

Rather than side-stepping the anti-India, anti-Hindu sentiments expressed violently by Sikh separatists, Canada's prime minister plays a game of innocence against India's accusations, instead accusing the Indian government of bringing lethal violence to Canada. By not acting to stem the violence emanating from a minority within the Sikh diaspora in Canada, this government is shirking an elemental responsibility, just as it has with the raging antisemitism being promoted and expressed through radical 'pro-Palestinian', pro-Hamas rallies crucifying Israel and targeting Jewish Canadians.

Float featuring the assassination of late Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, in front of the Indian Consulate in Vancouver. (FILE IMAGE)

"Canada would help mend relations a great deal by taking seriously any public act of violence, intimidation, or harassment by Khalistani activists, and condemning such acts publicly."

"Hindu temples in Canada have been defaced and defiled by Khalistani activists and Indian diplomats have been threatened, and such acts have not been condemned by Canada."

Neilesh Bose, Associate professor of history, University of Victoria

Inept, Arrogant, Out of His League: Justin Trudeau "Responsibly and Constructively"

"Obviously, we're going through an extremely challenging time with India right now."

"That's why its so important for us to have diplomats on the ground, working with the Indian government, there to support Canadians and Canadian families."

"We're not looking to escalate, as I've said."

"[Canada is] taking this extremely seriously, but we're going to continue to engage responsibly and constructively with the government of India."

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau

Indian police outside the Canadian embassy in Delhi last month. Photograph: Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

"He [Nijjar] had over a dozen criminal cases of murder and other terrorist activities against him in India."

"The details of the cases were shared with the Canadian authorities, but no action was taken except putting him on a no-fly list."

Senior Indian official

"In moments of tension -- because indeed there are tensions between both our governments -- more than ever it's important that diplomats be on the ground."

"That's why we believe in the importance of having a strong diplomatic footprint in India."

"That being said, we are in ongoing conversations with the Indian government."

Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly, Ottawa

"Overall, there are 21 key gangsters based in Canada who are wanted by Indian agencies and their list and detailed evidence against them has been shared with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police on more than one occasion in the past year."

Hindustan Times, September 21

"[Trudeau's allegation] was not consistent with our policy. If his government had anything relevant and specific they would like us to look into, we were open to looking at it. That's where that conversation is at this point of time."

"[The issue of Sikh separatists living in Canada had long been] an issue of great friction [notably after the 1985 bombing of Air India flight 182, the worst terrorist attack in Canadian history]."

"In the last few years, it has come back very much into play, because of what we consider to be a very permissive Canadian attitude toward terrorists, extremists, people who openly advocate violence."

"They have been given operating space in Canada because of the compulsions of Canadian politics."

Indian External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar

"Canada should not become a sanctuary for murderers."

"While killers find refuge in Canada and live comfortably, their victims' families continue to suffer."

Bangladeshi Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen

Canada's extradition system is a sore point with Bangladesh in its refusal to extradite Noor Chowdhury, convicted of assassinating former Bangladeshi president and founding father Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. Indian authorities have been furnishing Canadian diplomats and its federal police force with the names of Indian expatriates living in Canada against whom serious criminal charges of plotting to overthrow the government of India and being involved in causing the death of their critics whom India asked to be extradited. Just such a list was also delivered directly to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. All have been studiously ignored.

Canada has never been involved in any kind of conflict or nationalist challenges taking place in India or Bangladesh. Within Canada, living as citizens, are millions of emigrants from countries all over the world. India alone has a significant number of expatriates, almost 2 million Indo-Canadian citizens representing over 5% of the population. They are divided almost equally between Indian Hindus and Sikhs who live quietly as good law-abiding citizens. The exception is a small, vocal and often violent sub-group of Sikhs agitating in Canada for a separate homeland in India; Khalistan.

When a Vancouver-area Sikh leader was murdered in early summer, charges in the minority radicalized Sikh community had it that Indian state agents were involved. Several weeks ago, Canada's prime minister stood in the House of Commons to accuse "agents of the Government of India" of murdering the man, Hardeep Singh Nijjar without offering even a semblance of evidence, stating that it was all under investigation. Under investigation, but Trudeau saw fit to accuse a friendly government of sponsoring a murder in Canada.

Canada, just incidentally, is the country where the S.S. St.Louis was sent on its way back to Germany -- with terrified Jewish refugees begging for haven from the death camps -- by a country like others around the world that had no wish to burden themselves protecting Jews from an inevitable genocidal fate by Nazi Germany. Not before the eruption of World War II, not during its six tortuous years, nor following war's end. But Nazis, Germans and other nationals who volunteered their services to the Third Reich and swore allegiance to its Fuhrer encountered little entry resistance.

 

Former Nazis found Canada a comfortable place to live after the rigours of mounting a world war and annihilating Jews, gypsies, homosexuals, the mentally and physically unfit, and members of the Canadian military fighting with the Allies died and were wounded in their tens of thousands for freedom, justice and to put a stop to the desolation of inhumane intolerance and the mass slaughter of innocents. Jewish groups living in Canada attempted for decades to persuade government to expel the Nazis, to no avail.

 

And several weeks ago, while welcoming Ukraine's Jewish President-at-war-with-Russia Volodymyr Zelenskyy, unwitting, ignorant-of-history Parliamentarians gave two standing ovations to a special guest brought to the House of Commons to mark the occasion of the Ukrainian President's visit and address to Parliament. That special guest, a 98-year-old former Ukrainian volunteer member of the SS-Galicia-Division comprised of ethnic Ukrainians who swore allegiance to Adolf Hitler and helped in the slaughter of Jews and Poles.

 

Only several days ago was it also revealed that the Order of Canada was removed that had honoured yet another Ukrainian-Canadian who had fought in the very same SS Battalion against the Soviet Union for Nazi Germany. The shame that this has brought to Canada's reputation on the world stage is incalculable. None of which seems to concern prime minister Justin Trudeau to any great effect. He blithely goes about his business, scorning those who reproach him for his obtuse ineptitude.

 

India, incensed over Justin Trudeau's charge of state-sponsored murder, has most recently conveyed to Ottawa that it expects 41 of 62 Canadian diplomats to leave their missions in India by the following week. Short of cutting off diplomatic relations entirely in response to an unsubstantiated assault on the dignity and honour of another government's behaviour while an investigation is ongoing, India has voiced its displeasure with its ongoing relationship with a government whose conduct is lacking moral rectitude.

"The prime minister started this in a way that was clever, rather than strategically intelligent. You do not make this kind of accusation against a fellow democracy, not to one that is as influential as India, unless you have very solid incontrovertible evidence. And if you don’t publish something credible, you run the risk of walking into an Indian nationalistic trap."

"[Canada might have clear evidence that India was complicit in the assassination of Nijjar amid reports that the US shared key intelligence]. But having evidence is not enough. International relations are very unforgiving. For a long time, our prime minister has enjoyed a Teflon-like reputation. But once you lose that, you have to be extremely careful."

"Historically, we have not bullied other countries, we have not pushed our way around on the global stage. Now, that image is being challenged and possibly badly damaged."

"It’s unfortunate how avoidable this all was. Canada did not want to have a major confrontation with India, but it’s a basic violation of international relations – if you don’t want something to escalate, don’t start the process in public. And if you do, you have to be prepared to finish that fight."

Professor Aurel Braun, international relations and political science, University of Toronto

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi (R) extends his hand for a handshake with his Canadian counterpart Justin Trudeau during a photo opportunity ahead of their meeting at Hyderabad House in New Delhi, India, February 23, 2018. REUTERS/Adnan Abidi/File Photo

 

How To Make Friends And Influence People Trudeau-Style

"Any involvement of a foreign government in the killing of a Canadian citizen on Canadian soil is an unacceptable violation of our sovereignty."

"Canada declared its deep concerns to the top intelligence and security officials of the Indian government last week at the G20. I brought them personally and directly to Prime Minister Modi."

"Canada is a rule-of-law country. The protection of our citizens and defence of our sovereignty are fundamental."

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says any foreign government involvement in the killing of a Canadian citizen on Canadian soil is 'an unacceptable violation of our sovereignty.'   CBC

So 'fundamental' that the investigation undertaken by Canada's federal police failed, in investigating the source and cause of the Air India Bombing where hundreds of innocent Canadians and others lost their lives when the aircraft blew up in midair thanks to a bomb placed aboard in a scheme cooked up by a group of extremist Sikh Canadians agitating against India in secessionist plots to divide India's Punjab and create a Sikh 'homeland', 'Khalistan'.  

A bungled investigation led to a trial with an inconclusive result, the guilty parties to the plot failing, due to lack of evidence despite credible witness testimony, to be held responsible for that act of pure terrorism aimed at India and at Indian Hindus that led to the death of 329 people, 280 of whom were Canadian, mostly Indo-Canadians. A substantial, shocking loss of life with no one held accountable, though it was well known the catastrophe resulted from Sikh Khalistan separatists.

The death by assassination of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, president of a Surrey, B.C. Sikh Gurdwara, shot dead by masked gunmen in the parking lot of Guru Nanak Sikh temple could have been carried out by two thugs seeking revenge for the Air India bombing, since he was an important member of the Khalistani movement, and a colleague of the principal suspect in the Air India bombing. If, as prime minister Trudeau asserts, the government of India was involved in this murder, an investigation that is still ongoing, his decision to release this bombshell of an accusation against India was done to serve his own interests; a grudge against Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Hardly how one democracy treats another on the basis of a 'suspected' involvement.

"We have seen and reject the statement of the Canadian prime minister in their Parliament, as also the statement by their foreign minister."

"Allegations of Government of India's involvement in any act of violence in Canada are absurd and motivated".

India Foreign Ministry

Members of the Sikh community are pictured on Monday at the Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara where Hardeep Singh Nijjar was murdered in Surrey, B.C. (Ben Nelms/CBC)

 

Canada's leader of the official opposition, while in support of denouncing a presumed act of extreme violence by a foreign government on Canadian soil, criticizes the prime minister for failing to divulge credible evidence implicating India in the killing of a "Canadian citizen". The fact is that Canada has been badly remiss in its responsibilities to another nation with which it has always had amicable relations, one whose expatriate citizens make up a sizeable proportion of the Canadian public. Sikh-Canadians represent 2% of the Canadian population, while Hindi-Canadians make up 2.4%. In his wisdom, charging India with conspiracy to murder, the prime minister who excels at dividing Canadians, has created another schism between Canadian Sikhs and Hindus.

The murdered man lied on his application for refugee status, and he was denied entry as a refugee. He chose an oft-practised ruse, marrying a Canadian citizen who then sponsored him for legal entry to Canada; that practise is now on the radar of Immigration officials. He established himself finally as a Canadian citizen, and has worked tirelessly to rouse Canadian Sikhs to the controversial and troubling cause of a proposed Sikh homeland, to carve a 'Khalistan' out of India's geography in Punjab. Mr. Nijjar organized protests, some of which fulminated against Indian diplomats in Canada, going so far as to recommend their deaths, while celebrating 'martyrs' to Khalistan.

"Diaspora groups bring grievances from their home countries. Even though many Sikh Canadians are first-, second- or third-generation Canadians, that issue [secessionism] resonates."

"There's a lot of history there."

"There's no serious insurgency in Punjab the way there was in the 1980s. I think most Sikhs in India are very pragmatic and know it would never allow one of its major provinces to separate."

Vivek Dihejia, associate professor, Carleton University, Ottawa

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau takes part in a bilateral meeting with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the G20 Summit in New Delhi on Sept. 10. (Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press)

 

India has pleaded with Canada not to permit Sikh Canadians to openly and flagrantly protest against India, threatening violence and in fact often committing violence. Justin Trudeau has turned a deaf ear to India's overtures and has instead left the indelible impression of his complete sympathy with those Canadian Sikhs who are extremists. When India was beset with large and vocal protests by farmers -- mostly Sikhs -- who protested against plans by the Indian government to modernize its agricultural system in food conglomerate payments to farmers, Trudeau openly supported the striking farmers, a clear interference in another country's internal affairs.

Militant Sikhs in the UK which has a Sikh-British population substantially fewer than Canada's, and in the United States, cannot launch the kind of wild protests that Canada sees with its provocative outlines and its celebration of Khalistanis who have run afoul of the law and who have committed deadly crimes, that are seen in Canada. There is legislation to prevent this type of grave propaganda assaults against another country with whom the West has otherwise good relations. Trudeau's motivations are politically charged, to gain the approval and support of a sizeable voting bloc, as though all Sikh Canadians approve of his tolerance for Sikh extremism.

Canada is to India what Pakistan is to the United States, where Osama bin Laden, the architect of the 9/11 attacks, was hosted by and shielded from US vengeance in his Abbottabad compound, located in close proximity to a Pakistani military command compound. A Pakistani medical doctor whose compound was next to the bin Laden compound had cooperated with the US secret service in establishing the identity of bin Laden, and for his part in the drama, he was arrested and imprisoned as a traitor to Pakistan. Canada has done nothing to ratchet down the threats of violence emanating from extremist Sikh Canadians, despite New Delhi asking Ottawa to take the required measures to outlaw them.

"The prime minister hasn't provided any facts. He provided a statement and I want to emphasize that he didn't tell me any more in private [than] he told Canadians in public, so we want to see more information."

"[There would be] real [risk if Trudeau refuses to provide more information or if the allegations turn out to be inaccurate]."

"[Trudeau] said nothing and did nothing [regarding Chinese interference in Canadian affairs for years, even while two Canadians were imprisoned, as compared to his action on allegations against India for the extrajudicial killing]."

Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre, House of Commons

Hardeep Singh Nijjar was a leader of a Sikh temple in Surrey, British Columbia  Reuters

Expressing Indian government growing frustration with anti-India sentiments taking place in Canada, PM Modi pointed to a poster produced by a Canadian pro-Khalistan group which featured "KILL INDIA" in block lettering. Hardeep Singh Nijjar who arrived in Canada in 1997 was accused by the government of India of terrorism. The country's Central Bureau of Investigation issued a warrant against him, charging him with attempting to cause an explosion, making or keeping explosives with intent to endanger life or property, and making or possessing explosives under suspicious circumstances. There was an Interpol notice issued for Mr. Nijjar.