New Delhi:

Amid regional tensions and global conflicts in 2024, India navigated the complex diplomatic waters to solidify itself as a global leader which can’t be overlooked. However, its ties with Canada remained complicated– and may continue to do so–for at least another ten months till Prime Minister Justin Trudeau continues to lead the North American nation.

The India-Canada relations have been on a downward trajectory for several years, but they hit rock bottom in October 2024, with tit-for-tat expulsions of top diplomats following Prime Minister Trudeau’s claim that Canadian police were investigating allegations of Indian agents’ – and the Indian government’s – direct involvement in the June 2023 killing of Khalistani separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar.

Following this, Indian envoy to Canada Sanjay Kumar Verma – now withdrawn by New Delhi — accused Mr Trudeau of wrecking bilateral ties with India and stressed that Ottawa’s allegations were politically motivated. Ottawa has accused Mr Verma of having links to Nijjar’s murder in June 2023.

Speaking exclusively to NDTV upon his return to New Delhi, he said that it was in fact India which had shared detailed evidence of radical and extremist groups operating on Canadian soil with the Justin Trudeau government, but “no action was taken on it” by either the government or the authorities.

India has consistently rejected any link to the killing of Nijjar, a designated terrorist by the National Investigation Agency (NIA), and accused Trudeau’s administration of pandering to Khalistani sympathisers for political gain.

In May, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar said that by allowing political space to Khalistani separatist elements, the Canadian government is sending a message that its vote bank is “more powerful” than its rule of law. He stressed India respects and practices freedom of speech, but that does not equate with the freedom to threaten foreign diplomats, extend support to separatism or allow political space to elements advocating violence.

“If you have people whose presence there is itself on very dubious documents, what does it say about you? It actually says that your vote bank is more powerful than your rule of law,” the minister said.

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India-Canada Relations Collapse: A Timeline

In June 2023, Khalistani terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar was shot dead by two masked assailants as he left a Gurdwara in Surrey, British Columbia. Canadian authorities, including Prime Minister Trudeau, accused agents linked to the Indian government of carrying out the assassination.

New Delhi called the allegations “absurd” and “preposterous.” India said Ottawa “has not shared a shred of evidence” with the government “despite many requests” from New Delhi.

But the unusual manner in which Canada made public its understanding that Indian officials were somehow involved in his murder derailed bilateral relations and set off a diplomatic firestorm that continues to rage.

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Canada first expelled an Indian diplomat in 2023. In response, India also sent back a Canadian diplomat and halted consular services for Canadians for nearly two months. The row escalated in May after Canadian police said they had arrested three Indian citizens in connection with Nijjar’s killing and were “investigating if there are any ties to the government of India.”

In October, Ottawa said India’s top diplomat in the country Sanjay Kumar Verma was a “person of interest” in the case. The Trudeau government tied five other expelled Indian officials to Nijjar’s murder and claimed Ottawa has “ample, clear and concrete evidence which identified six individuals as persons of interest in the Nijjar case.”

In response, India slammed Canada’s accusations, with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs calling the accusations part of “a deliberate strategy of smearing India for political gains.” India also expelled Canada’s acting high commissioner and five other diplomats.

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The rift between the two countries intensified in November after attendees of an Indian consular event at a Hindu temple in Toronto were attacked by pro-Khalistani supporters. New Delhi called out Ottawa for failing to protect Indian citizens and institutions.

Amid the standoff, Mr Trudeau, for the first time, admitted to the presence of Khalistanis in his country. In an unexpected statement during a Diwali celebrations event at Ottawa’s Parliament Hill, he acknowledged the presence of a Khalistan support base within Canada but quickly added that they do not represent the Sikh community as a whole.

“There are many supporters of ‘Khalistan’ in Canada, but they do not represent the Sikh Community as a whole. There are supporters of the Modi government in Canada, but they do not represent all Hindu Canadians as a whole,” he said.

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Later in November, he also called his intelligence officials “criminals” for linking Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar to violence on Canadian soil. His statement came after Globe and Mail newspaper published a report, alleging that Canadian security agencies believed PM Modi knew about the violent plots and said Mr Jaishankar and National Security Adviser (NSA) Ajit Doval were also in the loop.

Montreal:

Canada said Thursday it had withdrawn 41 diplomats from India — fallout from a bitter row over the killing of a Khalistani terrorist on Canadian soil.

India planned to “unethically” revoke diplomatic immunity for all but 21 of Canada’s diplomats and their families by Friday, forcing Ottawa to pull out the others, Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly said.

“We have facilitated their safe departure from India,” Ms Joly added. “This means that our diplomats and their families have now left.”

Relations between India and Canada have plunged since Prime Minister Justin Trudeau last month publicly linked Indian intelligence to the killing of Khalistani terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar, which India has denied.

Nijjar, who advocated for a separate Sikh state carved out of India, was wanted by Indian authorities for alleged terrorism and conspiracy to commit murder.

“Revoking the diplomatic immunity of 41 diplomats is not only unprecedented, but also contrary to international law,” Ms Joly said Wednesday, but said Canada did not plan to retaliate in kind, so as to not “aggravate the situation.”

“Canada will continue to defend international law, which applies to all nations and will continue to engage with India,” she said.

“Now more than ever we need diplomats on the ground and we need to talk to one another,” Joly added.

– Countermeasures –

Canada has called for India to cooperate in the investigation but New Delhi has rejected the allegations and taken countermeasures, such as shutting down visa services for Canadians.

Ottawa also expelled an Indian diplomat over the affair.

External Affairs Minister SJaishankar said last month in New York that his country would be willing to examine any evidence presented by Canada.

“We have actually been badgering the Canadians. We’ve given them loads of information about organized crime leadership which operates out of Canada,” Mr Jaishankar said, referring to Sikh separatists.

“We have a situation where actually our diplomats are threatened, our consulates have been attacked and often comments are made (that are) interference in our politics,” he said.

The Indian government has called the Canadian accusations over the killing “absurd” and advised its nationals not to travel to certain Canadian regions “given the increase in anti-Indian activities.”

India also temporarily stopped processing visa applications in Canada.

Nijjar, who immigrated to Canada in 1997 and became a Canadian citizen in 2015, was shot dead by two masked assailants in the parking lot of a Sikh temple near Vancouver in June.

Canada is home to some 770,000 Sikhs, who make up about two percent of the country’s population, with a vocal group calling for creating a separate state of Khalistan.

The Sikh separatist movement is largely finished within India, where security forces used deadly force to put down an insurgency in the state of Punjab in the 1980s.

The tensions between Ottawa and New Delhi have created a delicate situation for close Canadian ally Washington, which has in recent months taken steps to move closer to India as the United States seeks to limit Chinese influence in the region.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Ottawa:

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Thursday called on India to cooperate with its investigation into the murder of a Khalistani terrorist after earlier this week pointing to Indian agents as suspects.

“We call upon the government of India to work with us to establish processes to uncover the truth of this matter and to allow for justice and accountability to be served,” Trudeau said on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York.

He declined, however, to provide the evidence that led him on Monday to accuse India in the slaying, suggesting that would be left for courts to make public should the case ever go to trial.

On Monday, Trudeau triggered a major diplomatic row when he raised allegations that Indian agents played a role in the June murder of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a Canadian citizen, near Vancouver.

The fallout prompted tit-for-tat diplomatic expulsions and a forceful denial from India, which said any suggestion it played a role in Nijjar’s killing was “absurd.”

India also stopped handling visa applications in Canada, blaming “security threats” which they said were “disrupting” the work of their officials, and sought a reduction of Canadian diplomatic staff in India.

Trudeau insisted on Thursday that his government “is not looking to provoke or cause problems” when asked why Canada’s allies’ reactions to the allegations appeared muted.

Western powers led by the United States have been courting India for years, seeing a natural ally in the billion-plus democracy as concerns mount about China.

“There is no question that India is a country of growing importance, and a country that we need to continue to work with,” Trudeau said.

“But we are unequivocal around the importance of the rule of law and unequivocal about the importance of protecting Canadians.”

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)