TOI Correspondent from LONDON: Straight after a huge diplomatic crisis engulfed India and Canada on Monday, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau sought support from Britain, one of its Five Eyes allies.
Trudeau rang UK PM Keir Starmer in the evening to discuss what he described as a “targeted campaign against Canadian citizens by agents linked to the govt of India”.
Trudeau said the leaders discussed the need to ensure the safety and security of their citizens and the importance of upholding and respecting the rule of law and that he underscored Canada’s “continued interest in cooperation with India”. The No. 10 statement on the call, which was more reserved, said they spoke about “allegations” under investigation in Canada and “agreed on the importance of the rule of law”.
Dabinderjit Singh, lead executive for political engagement at the pro-Khalistan Sikh Federation UK, said the allegations against India should be a “wake-up call to the UK govt, the other Five Eyes nations and countries across the globe” and called on other countries to “show the same courage and political will to stand shoulder to shoulder with Canada”.
When news of the crisis broke, a newly formed Sikh Federation International was busy briefing 10 UK MPs and Baroness Warsi on the transnational repression of Sikhs in a committee room in the UK Parliament. The meeting was chaired by Labour MP Preet Kaur Gill.
The barrister representing Avtar Singh Khanda’s family, Michal Polak, was at the meeting, as were two Canadian Sikhs from Sikh Federation Canada — Moninder Singh, who is giving evidence about India to the ongoing public inquiry in Canada into foreign interference in the electoral process, and Prabjot Singh, the lead advocate representing Sikhs at that inquiry. Moninder has received multiple threat to life warnings in Canada.
The Canadian activists informed the parliamentarians that “the killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a Sikh leader, on Canadian soil and India’s arrogance that they could get literally get away with murder had resulted in the political will in Canada to expose India on the international stage for having no respect for the rule of law and Canada’s sovereignty”. Nijjar was designated a terrorist by India.
Polak told them he is calling for an inquest and a public inquiry into Khanda’s death. Khanda was a close friend of Amritpal Singh and a leading Khalistan activist in the UK. His family and friends are convinced he was poisoned by India’s govt.
Next, the US-based Sikhs for Justice, which is banned in India and is organising an unofficial Khalistan referendum, announced it had allocated a $500,000 budget to “track” the ex-high commissioner of India to Canada, Sanjay Verma, “in pursuit of bringing him to justice” for his alleged role in the “assassination” of Nijjar.
The MEA on Monday withdrew Verma and other targeted diplomats and officials from Canada, after they were named as “persons of interest” in Nijjar’s murder by Canada’s govt. The MEA said their lives had been endangered and branded the allegations “preposterous”.
The flare-up in relations came after deputy commissioner of federal policing Mark Flynn travelled to Singapore with Canadian national security and intelligence adviser Nathalie Drouin and deputy minister of foreign affairs David Morrison to present what Canada described as “evidence” of the Indian govt’s involvement in “serious criminal activity in Canada” to govt officials from India on Oct 12.
The meeting did not go as planned and the RCMP said that because India would not cooperate it decided to go public.
At a press briefing, RCMP assistant commissioner Brigitte Gauvin then made astonishing allegations that a “number of criminal gangs” were working for the Indian govt in Canada and one of them is the Lawrence Bishnoi gang, originating in India, to carry out extortions, threats, homicides and other acts of violence. “There is specific targetingof pro-Khalistan elementsin Canada,” Gauvin alleged.
She said Canadian police had around a dozen police investigations ongoing “with links to the govt of India” and around 30 individuals had been arrested and charged with extortion and homicides. Since Sept 2023, 13 people in Canada have received duty to warn notices, she said, adding RCMP had shared this information with the FBI and other Five Eyes allies.