Politic?: Canada-India Relations

ndia has summoned Canadian High Commissioner in New Delhi over propaganda material, including posters, containing threats to Indian diplomats being circulated in Canada and has served as a demarche to the Justin Trudeau government.

According to sources, India on Monday raised concerns over threats to its diplomats in posters being circulated in Canada with information on a pro-Khalistan rally to be held on July 8. The posters contained threats to the Indian ambassador to Canada and the co ..

India has summoned Canadian High Commissioner in New Delhi over propaganda material, including posters, containing threats to Indian diplomats being circulated in Canada and has served as a demarche to the Justin Trudeau government.

According to sources, India on Monday raised concerns over threats to its diplomats in posters being circulated in Canada with information on a pro-Khalistan rally to be held on July 8. The posters contained threats to the Indian ambassador to Canada and the c ..

India summoned the Canadian envoy and issued a demarche over the increasing activities by pro-Khalistani elements in Canada, people familiar with the matter said on Tuesday. The summoning of the Canadian high commissioner came following pro-Khalistani groups releasing some posters with names of certain Indian diplomats.

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"A Sikh organization in Canada, known for its pro-Khalistani stance, has distributed flyers featuring images of India's High Commissioner to Canada, Sanjay Kumar Verma, and Consul General Apoorva Srivastava. These flyers labeled them as "killers," prompting the Indian government to raise the issue with the Canadian authorities."
"There has been a troubling upsurge of attacks by Sikh extremists on Indian diplomatic missions and diplomats in the Anglosphere. As if that were not bad enough, Canada is allowing Sikh militants to stage a "Kill India" rally on July 8. Rally posters call Indian envoys 'killers'."
"The individuals featured on the flyers were depicted as responsible for the death of Hardip Singh Nijjar, who was the commander of the Khalistan Tiger Force and a wanted terrorist in India. However, Nijjar was residing in Surrey, Canada until his untimely demise on June 18 when masked attackers shot him in the parking lot of a local gurdwara."
"The Indian government summoned the Canadian High Commissioner to express its concerns regarding the upcoming protests organized by pro-Khalistan terrorist groups. These protests are scheduled to take place outside the Indian High Commission in Ottawa, as well as the consulates in Toronto and Vancouver on July 8."
"During the meeting, the Indian High Commissioner to Canada also highlighted a previous incident where Sikh extremists had thrown two smoke grenades onto the premises of the High Commission on March 23, 2023."
dailyO


Indian government offices building, New Delhi

There has long been tension between Canadian citizen Indian Hindu and Sikhs and that tension came to a ghastly head in 1985 when Air India Flight 182's 392 passengers died when an onboard bomb exploded in mid-air while flying from Canada to India. It was the work of Indian Khalistanis who plotted the disaster, the worst terrorist act that ever emerged from Canadian soil. Indian Sikhs have been demanding a homeland of their own they call Khalistan and have been waging a hate war against India for generations.

Since the controversy that erupted for years over the downing of Air India Flight 182 and the loss of so many lives, made all the more explosive by the fact that no one was ever held accountable for the act of terrorism, although enough evidence existed to point to the plotter's identity but not enough to the perpetrator's, its memory has simmered. Since then, the polarization between Canadian Hindus and Sikhs has subsided, but the campaign against the government of India by Sikhs remains volatile.

India has on many occasions accused Canada of giving tacit support to the Sikh Khalistanis, and Canada responds by invoking the right of free speech -- with the proviso that violence cannot be part of free speech entitlements. New Delhi's accusations are heightened by the fact that Canada's Minister of Defence under Justin Trudeau's first four years as PM was Harjit Sajjan, a Sikh. Nor that the current leader of Canada's New Democratic Party is also a Sikh, with obvious sympathies.

When Justin Trudeau and his family visited India in 2018, his antics in seeming solidarity with Sikhs and his absurd dress-up routines failed to impress Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The trip was entirely diplomatically unorthodox, lacking gravitas and trust between the two nations. Prime Minister Trudeau's performance throughout the trip was awkwardly comical and he became an international laughing stock.

The situation hasn't been helped of late with posters circulating by the Canadian Sikh community after the death of Sikh leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar, shot to death a month ago outside the Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara in Surrey, British Columbia. He was a vocal opponent of India, a passionate supporter of an independent Sikh state. It was later revealed that Mr. Nijjjar had received warning from Canadian intelligence officials over his safety.

A year earlier the government of India that offered a 1 million rupee reward for information that might lead to Mr. Nijjar's arrest leading to claims his death was the result of foreign action, although police investigators have found nothing to link India with the man's death. There are marches in his memory planned for this weekend, to end at the local Indian consulate in Vancouver and another in Toronto. The one in Vancouver is set to begin at the temple that Nijjar ran.

Posters advertising the events have circulated on social media. They include photos of the Indian High Commissioner to Canada and both consul generals for Toronto and Vancouver. The posters refer to the three diplomats as "the faces of Niijar's killers". Little wonder New Delhi has asked Canada for special security for its envoys. Little wonder that the Indian government is concerned for the safety of its envoys. Some years back an Indian minister visiting Vancouver was the target of an assassination plot.

That would-be assassin was arrested, found guilty of charges brought against him, spent prison time, was released, and was among the guests invited to one of the diplomatic soirees planned for PM Trudeau during his visit to India in 1985. Little wonder New Delhi is alarmed. Canada's current defence minister has stated that the posters "do not represent Canadians"...that "Canada will continue to ensure the safety of foreign diplomats in this country. New Delhi remains to be convinced; it has long accused Canada of harbouring the extremists who plan to carve out the state within India they call Khalistan.

Oddly, and with no explanation, a month ago the Trudeau government's national security adviser named India as being among the top sources of foreign interference in Canada. A designation that the government has limited largely to authoritarian states like China and Russia. In March, a protest by Sikh groups at the high commission saw protesters use what Indian media called grenades, and of which Ottawa Police say they were "investigating the possible use of smoke canisters during the protest".

India's foreign minister condemned a parade float in Brampton, Ontario, portraying the 1984 assassination of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi by her two Sikh bodyguards. At the time, Cameron MacKay, Canada's high commissioner to India said he was "appalled" by "the glorification of violence". The man who helped to organize that parade, Bhagat Brar, said the float intended to commemorate martyrs and to acknowledge the bloody strife in India that led to Madam Gandhi's assassination.

"We were not celebrating her assassination. Sikhs were celebrating the martyrdom of the two people that assassinated her" he said, infuriatingly. He also said the 1985 Air India bombing linked to the Sikh militant group Babbar Khalsa actually was responsive to provocative actions of the Indian government.