Following the murder of a Sikh separatist in Canada in 2023, India on Thursday attributed the disastrous diplomatic fallout to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
In stark contrast to its submission this week toward the United States, where India is also accused of directing a separate assassination plot, New Delhi maintained its defiant stance toward Ottawa.
Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a Sikh separatist who was a naturalized citizen of Canada, was killed in the parking lot of a Sikh temple in Vancouver in June 2023, according to Canada.
The claims have been described as “preposterous” by India.
However, Trudeau stated that Canada had “clear… indications that India had violated Canada’s sovereignty” at a parliamentary inquiry on Wednesday.
Stewart Wheeler, Canada’s top envoy to New Delhi, has stated that Ottawa has provided “credible, irrefutable evidence of ties between agents of the Government of India and the murder of a Canadian citizen.” India has ordered Wheeler to leave by Saturday night.
On Thursday, the spokesperson for the Indian foreign ministry, Randhir Jaiswal, stated that they had not seen that evidence.
“Canada has introduced us (India) no proof at all on the side of the serious charges that it has decided to even out against India and Indian representatives,” he said in a proclamation.
“The obligation regarding the harm that this carefree way of behaving has caused to India-Canada relations lies with Head of the state Trudeau alone.”
Blow for blow
Nijjar — who moved to Canada in 1997 and turned into a resident in 2015 — had pushed for a different Sikh state, known as Khalistan, cut out of India.
He was wanted by Indian authorities on suspicion of terrorism and murder conspiracy.
Four Indian nationals have been captured regarding Nijjar’s homicide.
The Indian government temporarily restricted Canadian visas last year, and this week, both nations expelled their ambassadors.
The US State Department said on Wednesday that India had informed it that an intelligence operative who was accused of directing an assassination plot on US soil was no longer in government service. This is a very different response from New Delhi to Washington.
US examiners charged an Indian resident last November over a thwarted endeavor in New York to kill a backer for a different Sikh country.
