Canadian police charged Indian diplomats and consulate officials with “secret” and “criminal” activities in the country on Monday night, hours after senior diplomats were expelled from both countries in an escalating geopolitical dispute. did.
At a hastily convened press conference, the chief of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) told reporters that his force had evidence of “agents” carrying out extortion, intimidation, coercion and harassment on behalf of the Indian government. He said there was.
Secretary of State Mike Duhem told reporters, “The investigation found that Indian diplomats and consular staff based in Canada used their official positions to engage in covert activities, including gathering intelligence for the Indian government, either directly or through agents.'' It became clear that he was engaged in this.” Other individuals acting voluntarily or under duress. ”
The revelations from the RCMP highlight the extent of India's alleged activities in Canada, which have rocked the country's politics ever since Prime Minister Justin Trudeau accused India of assassinating prominent Sikh leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar. This is the first official glimpse police have gotten into the depths of the situation. Last year in British Columbia.
“We will never tolerate any foreign government's involvement in threatening and killing Canadians on Canadian soil,” Prime Minister Trudeau said Monday night. India made a grave mistake in choosing to use diplomats and organized crime to attack Canadians. ”
Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly said the RCMP had collected “sufficient, clear and concrete evidence to identify six people as persons of interest in the Niger case.”
He said India was asked to waive its diplomatic and consular immunity and cooperate with the investigation, but it refused to do so.
“Unfortunately, India did not consent, and given the continuing public safety concerns for Canadians, Canada served these people with deportation notices,” Joly said. .
He called on the Indian government to support the ongoing investigation “because it is in the interests of both countries to uncover the truth.”
In recent months, activists have accused India of carefully orchestrating “cross-border terrorism” targeting Sikhs.
Duhem did not say how many killings Indian officials have been involved in in Canada, but said the “breadth and depth of criminal activity” threatens the safety of Canadians.
Investigators said senior officials from Canada's national security and intelligence agencies shared their findings with India over the weekend, including evidence that India's High Commissioner Sanjay Kumar Verma was involved in Nijjar's murder. presented to the authorities.
Assistant Secretary of State Bridget Gauvin told reporters that the Indian diplomat's actions “violate the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, but they also violate Canada's values as a society.”
India's Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement early Monday that it does not have confidence in the Canadian government's ability to ensure the safety of its top diplomats and “requires the withdrawal of the High Commissioner and other targeted diplomats and officials.” It has been decided.”
In response, he announced that six of Canada's top diplomats would be expelled from New Delhi.
However, Canada's globe and mail newspaper And the Associated Press cited an anonymous Canadian official who claimed that Canada was the first to expel Indian diplomats after evidence implicated Verma and six other senior diplomats in the Niger assassination. Quoted.
Nijjar, a Canadian Sikh, was shot outside a gurdwara in Surrey last June.
He advocated an independent homeland for Sikhs and was a vocal supporter of the Khalistan movement, which is banned in India. The Indian government had accused Nijjar of being involved in terrorism in Khalistan.
In response to Nijjar's murder, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau took the unusual step of announcing that there was a “credible suspicion” that the Indian government was involved in Nijjar's assassination. India denied the charges, calling them “irrational.”
India's Ministry of External Affairs on Monday said it would “strongly condemn these absurd impositions” after a diplomatic communication from Canada confirmed that an Indian diplomat had been named as a “person of interest” in the investigation into Nijjar's murder. I refuse.”
The Indian government said the allegations were “absurd and deserves contempt” and summoned Stewart Wheeler, Canada's charge d'affaires in New Delhi, to say targeting diplomats is unacceptable. did.
Ministry of India spokesperson accuses Trudeau of having political agenda, saying Canada has not shared further evidence of Indian state involvement in the shooting since Trudeau claimed in September 2023. He claimed that there was no.
“There is little doubt that there is a deliberate strategy to malign India for political gain under the pretext of an investigation,” the Indian Ministry said.
However, Canadian media reports said the Canadian government submitted evidence to India last week, but the Narendra Modi government rejected it.
Mr. Nijjar's murder has resulted in a severe chilling of diplomatic relations between India and Canada. Officials and activists also began accusing the Modi government of waging a campaign of cross-border killings against people it deemed a threat to the nation.
Last November, U.S. government agencies announced they had thwarted an assassination attempt by Indian government officials on Firestone Sikh separatist Gurpatwant Singh Panun, a dual U.S.-Canadian citizen. The criticism grew even more.
Other prominent Sikh Khalistani activists in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom also said they had been warned of threats to their lives.
The White House said last year that it took allegations of Indian involvement in attempted murders on U.S. soil “with the utmost seriousness” and confirmed that they had been raised at the highest levels of the Indian government.
The Indian government has launched its own investigation and recently concluded that the Pannun assassination attempt was the work of “rogue agents,” according to anonymous officials.
India has also ordered dozens of assassinations in Pakistan as part of a broader strategy to eliminate terrorists living in foreign territories, intelligence officials who spoke to the Guardian this year said.
In May, three Indians living in Canada on student visas were charged with carrying out Nijjar's assassination. However, police stressed that the investigation is ongoing and that “these efforts include an investigation into the relationship with the Government of India.”
