Sept. 18 (UPI) — The Canadian government on Monday accused India of being involved in the June assassination of a prominent Sikh leader in British Columbia, and called for the full collaboration of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government in the investigation of the allegations.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced the allegations before the Canadian public and politicians from the floor of the House of Commons, stating that he had “personally and directly” informed Modi of the accusations during the Group of 20 summit held in New Delhi earlier this month.
“In the strongest possible terms I continue to urge the government of India to cooperate with Canada to get to the bottom of this matter,” he said.
Hardeep Singh Nijjar was killed the night of June 18, shot dead inside a vehicle in the parking lot of the Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara Sikh temple where he served as president in Surrey, B.C.
Police said the 45-year-old was shot multiple times and succumbed to his injuries as the scene.
Nijjar was an outspoken supporter of Khalistan, a movement that seeks to create a separatist homeland for Sikhs in India’s Punjab region, and led peaceful protests against human rights violations committed by India against believers of his minority religion, according to the World Sikh Organization.
The Indian government has labeled Nijjar a terrorist on accusations of being the leader of a Khalistan militant separatist group.
Though no specifies were offered, Trudeau on Monday said Canadian security agencies have for weeks been pursuing “credible allegations” linking agents of the Indian government with Nijjar’s killing.
“Any involvement of a foreign government in the killing of a Canadian citizen on Canadian soil is an unacceptable violation of our sovereignty. It is contrary to the fundamental rules by which free, open and Democratic societies conduct themselves,” he said.
“As you would expect, we’ve been working closely and coordinating with our allies on this very serious matter.”
After Trudeau spoke, Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly told reporters during a press conference that they have expelled the head of the Research and Analysis Wing, which is India’s foreign intelligence agency in Canada.
“Today, we’re acting by expelling a key diplomat, but we will get to the bottom of this,” she said, reiterating that she expects India’s full collaboration.
India’s foreign ministry has rejected Canada’s accusations as “absurd and motivated” and that the allegations Trudeau made to Modi at the G7 “were completely rejected.”
The ministry accused Canada in a statement of sheltering “Khalistani terrorists and extremists” and that Ottawa’s inaction has been “a long-standing and continuing concern,” and it urged it to take legal action against “all anti-India elements operating from their soil.”
“The space given in Canada to a range of illegal activities including murders, human trafficking and organized crime is not new,” it said. “We reject any attempts to connect government of India to such developments.”
The World Sikh Organization said that for months prior to Nijjar’s death, he had spoken publicly about the threat to his life and that he was targeted by Indian intelligence agencies.
The organization said the significance of Trudeau’s announcement for the Sikh community “cannot be understated.”
“It should now be clear to all Canadians that the Government of India is a terrorist state that has brazenly engaged in extrajudicial killings not only on its own soil, but also on Canadian soil,” WSO President Tejinder Singh Sidhu said in a statement.
Nijjar is also only one of several Sikh leaders to be killed in the past few months in countries such as Pakistan and Britain.
