Canada expels Indian diplomat Roy on charges of conspiring to kill Hardeep Singh Nijhar. Punjab News
45-year-old Bhai Hardeep Singh Nijhar was shot dead on June 18 outside Gurdwara Sahib in Surrey, a suburb of Vancouver. Bhai Hardeep Singh Nijhar supported a Sikh homeland in the form of an independent Khalistani state and was designated as “Most Wanted” by India in July 2020.
“Canadian security agencies are actively pursuing credible allegations of a possible link between Indian government agents and the death of Bhai Hardeep Singh Nijhar,” Trudeau said.
He said he raised the issue of the killing directly with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the G20 summit in New Delhi last week, and urged the Indian government to cooperate with Canada to get to the bottom of the matter. had done Also, Canada announced its deep concerns to the top intelligence and security officials of the Government of India.
Foreign Minister Melania Jolie said without giving details that Canada also expelled India’s top intelligence agent on Monday. Canada has named the expelled diplomat accused of conspiring to kill Hardeep Singh Nijhar as Pawan Kumar Roy, head of the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), India’s foreign intelligence agency run by the Indian High Commission in Canada.
At the G-20 summit, Modi had informed Trudeau of his grave concerns over the recent protests by Sikhs in Canada demanding independent statehood.
With diplomatic tensions now threatening trade relations, talks on a proposed trade deal have now stalled. Canada gave few details for the protest while India cited “certain political developments”. According to Statistics Canada, bilateral trade in 2022 was only C$13.7 billion ($10.2 billion) of Canada’s total of $6.52 trillion.
“We are deeply concerned about the allegations made by Prime Minister Trudeau earlier today,” US National Security Council spokeswoman Adrienne Watson said in a statement released late Monday. Trudeau did not directly accuse India of involvement in the killing, and Foreign Minister Joly later used more cautious language, saying the allegations would be unacceptable “if proven true”.
British Columbia’s Integrated Homicide Investigation Team said there were three suspects in the case last month, though no arrests have been made. Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc said several senior Canadian officials visited India recently to express Ottawa’s concerns.
