India Expels Canadian Diplomat, Suspends Visas After Trudeau Accuses India of Involvement in Sikh Leader’s Killing
This week, Canada expelled an Indian diplomat in response to accusations over the murder of Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Vancouver.
Just a few short years ago, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau fully embraced the Indian culture during a visit to the country.
Now, tensions between India and Canada are escalating due to the death of a Sikh leader of a separatist movement who recently was killed in Canada.
Five years ago, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau captured headlines in India for enthusiastically embracing the country’s culture during a weeklong trip with his family. He donned a series of colorful, glittering traditional Indian suits, visited monuments and even received Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s signature bear hug — a sign that their relationship was on the up.
Those days seemed gone for good when Trudeau said Monday that his government is investigating “credible allegations” that India may have been tied to the killing of a Canadian Sikh independence activist in British Columbia in June. India rejected that as “absurd” Tuesday and accused Canadian diplomats of interfering in “internal matters.”
Want to know why there’s no meeting with Modi. When Trudeau did this on his last trip to India, he insulted 90% of their population. Imagine if a foreign politician came to Canada and decided to dress in north-American native attire. Which first nation should he/she choose?… pic.twitter.com/2uQVd3DKhU
— Martyupnorth®- Unacceptable Fact Checker 🇨🇦 (@Martyupnorth_2) September 8, 2023
Trudeau’s tone-deafness, where India is concerned, has even more consequences, even more severe than accusations of “cultural appropriation.” India expelled one of Canada’s top diplomats, which seems to continue increasingly icy relations between the two countries.
India expelled one of Canada’s top diplomats Tuesday, ramping up a confrontation between the two countries over Canadian accusations that India may have been involved in the killing of a Sikh separatist leader in suburban Vancouver.
India, which has dismissed the accusations as absurd, said the expulsion came amid “growing concern at the interference of Canadian diplomats in our internal matters and their involvement in anti-India activities,” according to a statement from its Ministry of External Affairs.
…Canada has yet to provide any evidence of Indian involvement, but if true it would mark a major shift for India, whose security and intelligence branches have long been significant players in South Asia, and are suspected in a number of killings in Pakistan. But arranging the killing of a Canadian citizen in Canada, home to nearly 2 million people of Indian descent, would be unprecedented.
India, though, has accused Canada for years of giving free rein to Sikh separatists, including Nijjar.
The dueling expulsions have escalated tensions between Canada and India. Trudeau had frosty encounters with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi during this month’s Group of 20 meeting in New Delhi, and a few days later Canada canceled a trade mission to India planned for the fall.
India also suspended visas to Canadians and demanded the country scale down the diplomats. Trudeau claimed he has no intention to cause problems or turmoil:
“Important notice from Indian Mission: Due to operational reasons, with effect from 21 Sept. Indian visa services have been suspended till further notice,” the BLS Indian Visa Application Center in Canada said. It gave no further details. BLS is the agency that processes visa requests for India.
The suspension means that Canadians who don’t already have visas will not be able to travel to India until services resume. In 2021, 80,000 Canadian tourists visited India, making them the fourth largest group, according to India’s Bureau of Immigration.
Indian External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi confirmed a temporary suspension of all visa services for Canadians, including e-visas and visas issued in third countries.
“Security threats being faced by our High Commission and consulates in Canada have disrupted their normal functioning. Accordingly, they are temporarily unable to process visa applications. We will be reviewing the situation on a regular basis,” Bagchi told reporters.
The man at the center of the issue, Hardeep Singh Nijjar, was linked to a Sikh separatist movement in India that Pakistan supports. The goal of these Sikhs is the creation of an independent Khalistan:
– Nijjar later became chief of the militant group Khalistan Tiger Force (KTF) and was “actively involved in operationalising, networking, training and financing” its members, according to a 2020 Indian government statement.
– New Delhi officially categorised him as a “terrorist” in the same statement, saying he was involved in “exhorting seditionary and insurrectionary imputations” and “attempting to create disharmony among different communities” in the country.
– For supporters demanding a so-called independent Sikh state of Khalistan, Nijjar was a prominent leader and a strong voice for the cause.
Nijjar was killed by three masked gunmen outside a Sikh temple in Vancouver.
In a nutshell, Canada appears to be harboring Indian dissidents whom New Delhi considers terrorists. Given the wokeist antics of Trudeau, I suspect tensions between the two countries will continue to increase.
Furthermore, a new New World Order appears to feature India….with Canada playing a substantially smaller role. This development may be a contributing factor.
India is being courted by the United States and others as a counterweight to China, and this means Canada, with a population of just 40 million people, is severely outgunned diplomatically.
“India is important in Western calculations for balancing China, and Canada is not,” said Stephanie Carvin, a professor of international relations at Ottawa’s Carleton University.
“This really does put Canada offside among all other Western countries,” she said in a phone interview.
I will conclude with a good summary of the complexities behind this developing story.
Canada vs India 101:
Both countries have expelled diplomats over the death of Hardeep Singh Nijjar and relations are breaking down. Here's an explanation of why India is mad and why this goes terribly for Canada pic.twitter.com/Cp2jWPa2sf— Daniel Bordman (@Ranting4Canada) September 19, 2023
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Comments
I don’t have anything against India, in the grand scheme of thing I couldn’t care less about their mads. If there is evidence that India brokered a hit in Canada, then they are the bad player.
India, given its size and its history, is one of those very complicated nations. And it’s having to deal with some racism of late, so lots of tensions.
India does have a history of mistreating the Sikh who think too much about independence.
The Hindus have a history of mistreating the Sikhs. The Tamil, not as much. (Like many other places, the minority cultures/ethnicities don’t beat up on each other as much.)
The racial tensions there have been ramped up, of late, by the gov’t.
Why the two downvotes? What did I say with which you disagree? I’d love to hear it.
I can see why Mrs T is getting a divorce
fully embraced the Indian culture during a visit
By “fully embraced” you mean “cos-played,” of course.
has accused Canada for years of giving free rein to Sikh separatists
Yep. That’s called “freedom”, bubba. Something increasingly uncommon in Canada. And in India.
Given the wokeist antics of Trudeau
Shorter: “Given Trudeau’s stupidity,”.
Again, any explanation of the downvotes? Anything in particular with which you two disagree?
They’re not even a real country, anyway.
How so?
It’s obvious! No continental size Nation can truly be considered a Nation as long as they face the issues of a multiethnic population, multiple religions and vast cultural differences between the different regions of that Nation. No sir, no way such a Nation can exist, especially those which gained their independence from Britain. /S
As a nation, their proudest achievement is that little round bacon
Is Pakistan a “real” country?
WTF, I really do hafta explain the jokes to you nerds.
Antecedent for “they”?
Makes a big difference.
Didn’t Trudeau don “brownface” once for a masquerade ball? Not that I have any objection to that.
Peter Sellers did the same in a movie, I think called “The Party.” Pretty funny.
Like seagulls fighting over garbage.