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03-11-2024
Bureau Report
NEW DELHI: India has denied that Home Minister Amit Shah plotted to target Sikh activists on Canadian soil as it criticized Canada over the “absurd and baseless” allegations.
Shah, 60, oversees India’s internal security forces as home minister. He is viewed as the country’s second-most powerful person after Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
On Saturday, Randhir Jaiswal, spokesman of India’s Ministry of External Affairs, told journalists that New Delhi had summoned the representative of the Canadian High Commission on Friday and lodged a strong protest.
“The government of India protests in the strongest terms to the absurd and baseless references” about Shah, Jaiswal said, by Canada’s Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister David Morrison.
The Canadian minister told the national security committee that the government considers Shah the architect of the campaign against Sikh separatists in the country, which included the assassination of an activist.
The Canadian government has accused India of orchestrating the 2023 killing in Vancouver of 45-year-old naturalized Canadian citizen Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a prominent Khalistan campaigner.
Modi’s government has branded Khalistan activists who belong to the Sikh community as “terrorists” and threats to its security. The activists demand an independent homeland, known as Khalistan, to be carved out of India.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the national police have in the past said there were “clear indications” of India’s involvement in the murder, as well as a broad campaign of intimidation, violence and other threats against Khalistan activists.
Canada’s spy agency also issued a report warning that India was using cyber-technology to track Sikh separatists abroad and had also stepped up cyberattacks against Canadian government networks.
“Such irresponsible actions will have serious consequences for bilateral ties,” Jaiswal said on Saturday, referring to Morrison’s accusations.
India has repeatedly dismissed Canada’s allegations, which have sent diplomatic relations between New Delhi and Ottawa into a freefall.
Canada has already expelled Indian diplomats that it linked to the campaign it claims has targeted Sikhs, while India has responded with its expulsion of Canadian officials.
On Wednesday, US Department of State spokesman Matthew Miller said Canada’s recent allegations about Shah “are concerning”.
The United States has also charged a former Indian intelligence officer, Vikash Yadav, with allegedly directing a foiled plot to murder Sikh separatist leader Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, a dual US-Canadian citizen and Indian critic in New York City.
Last year, in a tit-for-tat move, India has expelled a senior Canadian diplomat, hours after Ottawa expelled a top Indian official as tensions escalate between the two countries over the killing of Sikh separatist leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar earlier this year.
On Monday, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau described in parliament what he called credible allegations that India was connected to Nijjar’s assassination in British Columbia State in June.
The Indian government dismissed the allegations as “absurd” and asked Canada instead to crack down on anti-India groups operating in its territory.
The row centres on the Sikh independence movement, commonly known as the Khalistan movement. India accuses Canada of sheltering Khalistani activists.
