Hardeep Singh Nijjar death: Impact on India-Canada ties

OTTAWA –

India’s envoy to Canada insists relations between the 2 international locations are optimistic total, regardless of what he describes as “lots of noise.” 

Throughout his first public remarks because the RCMP arrested three Indian nationals within the case, Excessive Commissioner Sanjay Kumar Verma appeared to hyperlink the case to home crime.

However he warned that Sikh teams in Canada who name for the separation of their homeland from India are crossing “an enormous purple line” that New Delhi sees as a matter of nationwide safety. 

“Indians will resolve the destiny of India, not the foreigners,” Verma advised the Montreal Council on International Relations.

Earlier on Tuesday, International Minister Mélanie Joly stood by allegations that the Indian authorities was complicit within the slaying of a Sikh Canadian final 12 months.

Hardeep Singh Nijjar had lengthy advocated for the creation of a Sikh nation referred to as Khalistan. 

He was shot useless final June exterior his temple in Surrey, B.C. 

Nijjar was below an arrest warrant in India, however Canada by no means extradited him as a consequence of a scarcity of credible proof that he dedicated any critical crime.

The killing sparked a wave of protests, with some Sikh teams circulating posters that threatened Indian diplomats in Canada by title.

Ottawa paused commerce negotiations with India final August, a month earlier than Trudeau publicly linked New Delhi to the case. 

The diplomatic pressure continued into the autumn as India pressured Canada to take away two-thirds of its diplomats from the nation, threatening to strip them of diplomatic immunity, and quickly halted processing visas for Canadian guests. 

The three males charged within the case made a digital look in court docket Tuesday. Police say they’re nonetheless investigating whether or not India’s authorities was concerned within the killing.

Verma mentioned the deeper issues beneath the current “destructive” developments must do with Canada’s misunderstanding of “decades-old points,” which he blames Canadians of Indian origin for resurfacing. 

He mentioned his chief concern is “national-security threats emanating from the land of Canada,” noting that India doesn’t acknowledge twin nationality, so anybody who emigrates is taken into account a foreigner.

New Delhi deems it unconstitutional to name for separation from India, however Canada has lengthy mentioned Sikh individuals in Canada are entitled to free speech if they don’t seem to be inciting violence.

“Foreigners having, if I can name it, (an) evil eye on the territorial integrity of India — that could be a massive purple line for us,” he mentioned.

He didn’t specify whether or not he was referring to foreigners being concerned within the Nijjar case or the problem of Sikh separatism extra broadly. 

Verma added that unspecified media stories have been “a bit colored,” although he acknowledged “there could be some information” in them.

Over the weekend, Indian International Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar had reacted to the RCMP arrests by accusing Canada of welcoming in criminals from his nation.

However Verma struck a conciliatory tone on Tuesday, saying the 2 international locations are “making an attempt to resolve this situation.”

“We’re prepared to sit down down on the desk any day, and we’re doing that,” he mentioned.

Hours earlier than these remarks, Joly mentioned her objective continues to be to conduct diplomacy with India in personal.

She mentioned she would let the Mounties examine as an alternative of offering any new commentary on the case.

“We stand by the allegations {that a} Canadian was killed on Canadian soil by Indian brokers,” Joly mentioned on Parliament Hill.

“The investigation by the RCMP is being performed. I gained’t additional remark and no different officers from our authorities will additional remark.”

Verma targeted his Tuesday speech on “so many optimistic issues” taking place within the relationship. 

He famous the annual worth of two-way commerce is $26 billion, and previously 11 months, there was a 75 per cent bounce in Canadian lentil exports and a 21 per cent enhance in Indian ready medicines reaching Canada.

Vina Nadjibulla, the analysis vice-president for the Asia Pacific Basis of Canada, mentioned India has growing significance for Ottawa and plenty of of its friends.

“Canada in the mean time is an outlier, in the case of that sort of strategic deepening of partnership with India,” she mentioned.

“We do have to stabilize and enhance that relationship, as a result of that’s in Canada’s nationwide curiosity.”

She famous that Canadian companies and provinces have been in search of stronger ties. Alberta Premier Danielle Smith welcomed Verma in March.

And Saskatchewan introduced final week it had satisfied New Delhi to reinstate the province’s envoy in India, saying their official was among the many Canadians who needed to go away in the course of the fall.

New Delhi hasn’t allowed the opposite Canadian diplomats to return.

Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe met Jaishankar final February and spoke on the Raisina Dialogue, a significant foreign-policy convention in India.

Nadjibulla attended the identical convention. She noticed that India displayed “great confidence” over its rising financial energy, inhabitants and regional clout. 

“There are a lot of companions and suitors in the mean time exhibiting up in New Delhi,” Nadjibulla mentioned.

Regardless of the Nijjar case, she mentioned Canada ought to contemplate reopening commerce talks with India. 

“There’s so much we might be doing collectively,” she mentioned.

Not everybody agrees. On Tuesday, the group Sikhs for Justice referred to as for Verma’s speech to be cancelled, citing the Nijjar case and allegations of international interference by India.

The group’s New York-based lawyer Gurpatwant Singh Pannun was named by U.S. prosecutors as an assassination goal in a failed plot they allege was orchestrated by an Indian authorities official. The declare has not been examined in court docket.

India is within the midst of a months-long nationwide election.

Nadjibulla mentioned she expects Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to proceed ramping up his rhetoric.

Final month, Modi twice made statements in Hindi about his nation’s capability to kill these overseas who problem the nation’s territorial integrity, in feedback that have been extra broadly associated to Pakistan.

Final week, Jaishankar lamented that “our largest drawback proper now could be in Canada,” referring to Sikh separatism. 

Federal cupboard minister Harjit Sajjan, who has been painted by Indian officers as a Sikh nationalist, steered on Tuesday that he does not take India’s claims at face worth.

“We take any allegations and knowledge by any nation very significantly in the case of any kind of legal exercise,” he mentioned.

“There was vital misinformation and disinformation by India on people on this nation, together with on myself and my household.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first revealed Might 7, 2024