India expels six Canadian diplomats and recalls envoy as row escalates over death of Sikh separatist leader

Canada names Indian high commissioner as 'person of interest' in Hardeep Singh Nijjar case

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in 2021. Relations between their countries have soured since last year. AP

India has expelled six Canadian diplomats and recalled its envoy from Ottawa as a row between the countries deepens over the death of a Sikh separatist leader in British Columbia last year.

The decision to expel the diplomats comes after Canada on Monday said the Indian high commissioner Sanjay Kumar Verma was a “person of interest” in the assassination of Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar. New Delhi issued a terse rebuke and summoned Ottawa's senior envoy in India.

Mr Nijjar led the Khalistan Tiger Force, a group that seeks the creation of a Sikh homeland called Khalistan in the Punjab region. He was designated a terrorist by Indian authorities in 2020. He was shot dead by two men outside a Sikh temple in Surrey, British Columbia in 2023.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau last year told parliament that Indian agents were involved in the killing. The comments caused a diplomatic row between Ottawa and New Delhi, which claims the Canadian government has not presented any evidence to support its claim.

Tensions escalated on Monday after India’s External Affairs Ministry issued a statement saying Canada had named Mr Verma as a “person of interest”. New Delhi described the allegations as “ludicrous” and “preposterous imputations” and said they were part of “the political agenda of the Trudeau government that is centred around vote bank politics”.

Mr Trudeau has “not shared a shred of evidence with the government of India, despite many requests” as part of a “deliberate strategy of smearing India for political gains”, India added. New Delhi later summoned Canada’s charge d’affaires Stewart Wheeler, before expelling him and five other diplomats, including deputy high commissioner Patrick Herbert. They have been told to leave by October 19.

Canada also told six Indian diplomats to leave the country. But New Delhi said it withdrew the officials, including Mr Kumar, because it had “no faith in the current Canadian government's commitment to ensure their security”.

Anil Trigunayat, a former Indian diplomat, told The National that relations between India and Canada “have hit rock bottom with recall and expulsion of diplomats courtesy myopic policies of the current political dispensation led by PM Justin Trudeau.”

“Calling an ambassador or a high commissioner a 'person of interest ' in a sham investigation of the killing of a terrorist is totally unacceptable and against the international conventions,” he added.

Michael Kugelman, director of the South Asia Institute at the Wilson Centre in Washington, said that the latest escalation was “as bad as a relationship can sink” adding that it would be difficult to salvage.

Indian-Canadian ties

India and Canada are historical partners but the relations between the nations have soured in recent years over New Delhi’s claims that Mr Trudeau's government gives shelter to Sikh Separatists fighting for Khalistan.

Khalistan is a decades-old Sikh secessionist movement in the northern state of Punjab, where Sikhs are seeking the creation of a homeland called Khalistan for the religious minority.

Punjab is a deeply religious state, with nearly 58 per cent of its 27 million population belonging to the Sikh community. The movement peaked in the early 1980s but declined a decade later. Tens of thousands of civilians, militants, and Indian security forces were killed in the conflict. It also led to the assassination of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.

Sikh militants were blamed for the 1985 bombing of an Air India Boeing 747 flying from Canada to India in which all 329 people on board were killed.

India has accused secessionist organisations and leaders living abroad – especially in Canada, Australia, and the UK – of supporting Punjab's independence movement.

Canada has the largest overseas community of Indian origin with a population of 1.4 million. It has the highest number of Sikhs outside Punjab with about 770,000.

Full diplomatic row

Mr Nijjar was born in Punjab’s Jalandhar district. He moved to Canada in 1997 and held the position of the president of the gurdwara body in Surrey since 2020.

India had designated him as one of its most wanted terrorists and offered a cash reward of around $12,000 for his arrest. He was accused of conspiring to kill a Hindu priest in his hometown. India’s National Investigation Agency had also filed charges against him in a case of conspiracy to commit terrorist acts against India.

His death was initially assumed to be a case of rivalry. Mr Trudeau later told the parliament that there were “potential links” between agents of the Indian government and Mr Nijjar's killing. New Delhi dismissed the claims as “absurd and motivated”. Both nations expelled each other’s diplomats and New Delhi suspended visa applications for Canadian citizens temporarily. It also issued an advisory for Indians living in Canada to exercise “utmost caution”.

Tensions erupted again in May when Canadian police arrested three Indian citizens in connection with the murder.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police on Monday claimed that investigations revealed links tying agents of the Indian government to “homicides and violent acts” in Canada.

“Canada is a country rooted in the rule of law, and the protection of our citizens is paramount,” Mr Trudeau said on Monday. “That is why, when our law enforcement and intelligence services began pursuing credible allegations that agents of the government of India were directly involved in the killing of a Canadian citizen, Hardeep Singh Nijjar, on Canadian soil – we responded.”

The latest escalation will likely have an impact on the economic ties between the countries that stood at $8.4 billion in 2023-2024. “This is absolutely a no-holds-barred diplomatic war,” Mr Kugelman said.

“The relationship will be tough to salvage. And that’s a loss, given all the potential for co-operation around trade and strategic affairs,”

“But the anger and mistrust are too acute, the allegations too serious, and most importantly the stances of each side too recalcitrant and uncompromising, for there to be hopes of finding an off-ramp anytime soon.”