India-Canada row escalates; New Delhi rejects Ottawa's fresh charges

New Delhi: Even as Ottawa secured cautious support from New Zealand and the United Kingdom – both its partners in the ‘Five Eyes’ intelligence alliance – in its tirade against India, New Delhi has dismissed the allegations of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government that the government of India had been engaged in criminal activities in Canada.

New Delhi also trashed Ottawa’s claim that it had shared credible evidence with India in support of its allegation that the officials of the South Asian nation’s government had a role in the June 2023 killing of Khalistani Sikh extremist Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Canada or any other criminal activities in the North American nation.

“This is simply not true. From the very beginning, Canada’s approach has been to make vague accusations and put the burden of denial on India,” a source in New Delhi said on Tuesday, a day after the row between the two nations escalated with both sides expelling each other’s diplomats.

Ottawa moved against India’s diplomats in Canada even as New Delhi decided to send a team to the United States to probe the allegations that the officials of the government of India had been involved in a plot to kill another Khalistani Sikh extremist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun in New York.

New Delhi purportedly conveyed to Washington DC that an officer of an intelligence agency of the government of India had been arrested after he had been accused by the US prosecutors of engaging Nikhil Gupta, arrested in Prague now incarcerated in a jail in Brooklyn, to hire an assassin to make attempt on Pannun, a leader of the Sikhs for Justice.

“The Government of India made a fundamental error in thinking that they could engage in supporting criminal activity against Canadians here on Canadian soil, whether it be murders or extortion or other violent acts,” Trudeau said in Ottawa. “We will never tolerate the involvement of a foreign government in threatening and killing Canadian citizens on Canadian soil, a deeply unacceptable violation of Canada's sovereignty and of international law.”

“Same old Trudeau (is) saying the same old things for the same old reasons,” the source in New Delhi said, dismissing the comments made by the prime minister of Canada.

New Delhi on Monday decided to withdraw its envoy to Ottawa, Sanjay Kumar Verma, and five of his colleagues after Canada conveyed to India that they had been identified as “persons of interest” in the police investigation into the killing of the Nijjar at the parking lot of a gurdwara in the British Columbia province North American country on June 18, 2023.

Trudeau’s foreign minister Melanie Joly later said that Ottawa had to expel Verma and five other officials of India so that they could be brought within the ambit of the probe by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.

New Delhi also retaliated by expelling six diplomats of Canada, including its acting High Commissioner to India, Stewert Wheeler, and Deputy High Commissioner Patrick Hebert.

Trudeau called Prime Minister Keir Starmer of the UK and discussed Canada’s allegations against India. “They discussed recent developments regarding allegations under investigation in Canada. Both agreed on the importance of the rule of law. They agreed to remain in close contact pending the conclusions of the investigation,” the office of the British Prime Minister said in a statement on Tuesday, avoiding directly making any reference to India.

“The alleged criminal conduct outlined publicly by Canadian law enforcement authorities, if proven, would be very concerning,” Winston Peters, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of New Zealand, posted on X.

“We will continue to push India to make sure they cooperate. We Will continue to engage with our Five Eyes partners. We will also continue to engage with the G7 partners. Everything is on the table,” Joly said, when she was asked by a journalist if Canada was planning to impose sanctions on India.

The ‘Five Eyes’ is an intelligence alliance comprising Australia, New Zealand, Canada, the UK and the US.

Trudeau’s government had last year started that its allegation about India’s role in the killing of the Khalistani Sikh extremist in Canada on June 18 was based on intelligence shared within the ‘Five Eyes’.