How India-Canada relations hit rock bottom : A timeline of sourness between the two countries

News Mania / Piyal Chatterjee / 17th October 2024

Indian high commissioner Sanjay Kumar Verma and five other Indian diplomats were expelled by Ottawa on Monday, intensifying the continuing diplomatic spat between India and Canada over what the latter refers to as a “campaign of violence” against Sikh separatists on Canadian land. It is the most recent step in a conflict that was first sparked in June 2023 by the murder of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a Sikh separatist leader, in Canada.

In a tit-for-tat move, India’s foreign ministry said that six Canadian diplomats, including the acting high commissioner, would be expelled from New Delhi and given until Saturday to go. However, before Nijjar was killed, diplomatic tensions existed between Canada and India. The events leading up to the most recent developments are shown  below 

 The controversy surrounding Trudeau’s meal in India in February 2018

During a visit to India, Trudeau attended a formal dinner hosted by the Canadian High Commissioner in New Delhi. Canadian media said the purpose of Trudeau’s visit was to smooth diplomatic and trade relations with India after brewing tensions over what India perceived as support for Sikh separatism – namely, the Khalistan movement – in the Canadian diaspora.

Khalistan is the name of the proposed state envisioned by some Sikhs in a movement that emerged in India in the 1970s and early 1980s. While the original movement mostly died away, it has seen some resurgence among diasporic Sikh communities in Europe and North America, especially Canada, where 771,790 Sikhs live as of the 2021 census. Canada has the largest Sikh population outside of India’s Punjab.

Jaspal Singh Atwal, a Canadian-Indian former member of the International Sikh Youth Federation, a Sikh separatist organization, was at the center of the controversy surrounding Trudeau’s meal with the Canadian High Commissioner. The group is classified as a “terrorist” organization on Canada’s Public Safety Website. In Canada, Atwal, who was also invited to the meal, was found guilty of participating in the 1986 assassination attempt on the cabinet minister of Punjab state, India.In 2018, two days prior to the dinner, Atwal was seen with Sophie Trudeau, the Canadian prime minister at the time, at another event connected to Trudeau’s visit. Trudeau withdrew the invitation to Atwal as a result of the uproar this provoked in India. Atwal shouldn’t have been invited in the first place, he told Indian media.

 Trudeau’s remarks regarding farmers’ protests infuriate India in December 2020

Hundreds of thousands of Indian farmers protested new agricultural legislation that they claimed would harm their livelihoods by marching to New Delhi in late 2020. To disperse the demonstrators, police employed water cannons and tear gas. During an online event commemorating the 551st anniversary of the birth of Guru Nanak, the founder of Sikhism, Trudeau voiced his concerns about the current state of affairs.According to the prime minister of Canada, his nation would “always be there to defend the rights of peaceful protest.” “We have seen some ill-informed comments by Canadian leaders relating to farmers in India,” said India’s Ministry of External Affairs in a furious response. Such remarks are inappropriate, particularly when they deal with a democratic nation’s internal affairs he added. 

Hardeep Singh Nijjar’s murder in June 2023

On June 18, 45-year-old Sikh separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar was shot and killed in Canada outside a Sikh temple. Surrey, a city in Vancouver with a sizable Sikh population, was where the temple stood. In 2020, the Indian government designated him as a “terrorist.” Nijjar was organizing an unofficial referendum for an independent Sikh state in India at the time of his passing. The June 2023 murder of Nijjar followed a spike in hostilities earlier in the month. India’s foreign minister, S Jaishankar, blasted Canada on June 8 for permitting a parade float in Brampton, Ontario, that portrayed the 1984 murder of former prime minister Indira Gandhi, who was murdered by two of her Sikh bodyguards after she let a Sikh temple to be stormed.

G20 tensions and a halt to trade talks in September 2023

On September 1, Canada abruptly halted trade talks with India. An unidentified Canadian official told the Reuters news agency that the pause was “to take stock of where we are,” without providing a specific explanation. The official did not, however, go into further detail about this. Tensions between the two nations were further emphasized by the G20 conference, which was held in New Delhi on September 9 and 10. Despite ignoring Trudeau, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi met bilaterally with other foreign leaders. A representative for Canadian Trade Minister Mary Ng announced on September 15 that Canada had postponed a trade mission to India that was originally planned for October, but she did not provide a specific explanation. India replied by dismissing a Canadian diplomat after Ottawa removed an Indian diplomat on September 19. The expulsion coincided with Ottawa’s declaration that it was “actively pursuing credible allegations” that Nijjar’s death was the work of Indian government agents.

Canada removes 41 diplomats from India in October 2023

Following the Indian government’s announcement that it will withdraw its diplomatic immunity and security protection for their family members, Canada recalled 41 of its diplomats from India on October 19. India’s threat to withdraw diplomatic immunity was denounced by Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly as a breach of international law. She did, however, state that Canada would keep interacting with India.

Three individuals are detained and accused of Nijjar’s murder in May 2024

Three males have been taken into custody as part of the ongoing investigation into Nijjar’s murder, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) announced on May 3.After being taken into custody in Edmonton, Alberta, the Indian nationals, Kamalpreet Singh, 22, Karanpreet Singh, 28, and Karan Brar, 22, were accused of first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder. The similar complaint was brought against 22-year-old Indian national Amandeep Singh on May 11. Police in Canada already had him under arrest on unrelated gun charges. He was in Canada on a temporary visa, according to Canadian media. According to Canadian media, the case is still pending and was postponed for the fifth time on October 1, 2024, while the government of Canada attempts to provide the defense with case-related materials.

October 2024

Evidence of Indian government agents’ involvement in activities that “threaten public safety in Canada” was presented by Trudeau at a news conference in Ottawa on Monday. These activities included “clandestine information-gathering techniques, coercive behavior targeting South Asian Canadians, and involvement in over a dozen threatening and violent acts, including murder.” He went on to say that although the RCMP is now only able to provide “extremely limited” facts, the evidence they have presented “cannot be ignored.” India dismissed the charges, calling them “absurd,” and ordered that Canada’s acting high commissioner and five other ambassadors be expelled by Saturday.

A statement from the Indian foreign ministry on Monday said: “This latest step follows interactions that have again witnessed assertions without any facts. This leaves little doubt that on the pretext of an investigation, there is a deliberate strategy of smearing India for political gains.”