TORONTO (AP) \u2014 Canada expelled a top Indian diplomat Monday as it investigates what\u00a0Prime Minister Justin Trudeau\u00a0called credible allegations that India\u2019s government may have had links to the assassination in Canada of a Sikh activist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Trudeau said in Parliament that Canadian intelligence agencies have been looking into the allegations after Sikh leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a strong supporter of an independent Sikh homeland known as Khalistan, was gunned down on June 18 outside a Sikh cultural center in Surrey, British Columbia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Trudeau told Parliament that he brought up the slaying with Indian Prime Minister\u00a0Narendra Modi\u00a0at the G-20 last week. He said he told Modi that any Indian government involvement would be unacceptable and that he asked for cooperation in the investigation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Canadian Foreign Minister M\u00e9lanie Joly said the head of Indian intelligence in Canada has been expelled as a consequence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIf proven true this would be a great violation of our sovereignty and of the most basic rule of how countries deal with each other,\u201d Joly said. \u201cAs a consequence we have expelled a top Indian diplomat.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Indian Embassy in Ottawa did not immediately answer phone calls from The Associated Press seeking comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The expulsion comes as relations between Canada and India are tense. Trade talks have been derailed and Canada just canceled a trade mission to India that was planned for the fall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At the G-20 meeting, Modi expressed \u201cstrong concerns\u201d over Canada\u2019s handling of the Punjabi independence movement among the overseas during a meeting with Trudeau at the G-20, according to a statement released by India\u2019s Ministry of External Affairs<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The statement described the Sikh movement as \u201cpromoting secessionism and inciting violence\u201d against Indian diplomats. It called on Canada to work with India on what New Delhi said is a threat to the Canadian Indian diaspora.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Canada has a Sikh population of more than 770,000, or about 2% of its total population.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOver the past number of weeks Canadian security agencies have been actively pursuing credible allegations of a potential link between agents of the government of India and the killing of a Canadian citizen, Hardeep Singh Nijjar,\u201d Trudeau said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Trudeau said Canada has declared its deep concerns to the Indian government. \u201cAny involvement of a foreign government in the killing of a Canadian citizen on Canadian soil is an unacceptable violation of our sovereignty.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Trudeau said his government has been working closely and coordinating with Canada\u2019s allies on the case.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIn the strongest possible terms I continue to urge the government of India to cooperate with Canada to get to the bottom of this matter,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Trudeau said he knows there are some members of the Indo-Canadian community who feel angry or frightened, and he called for calm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc said Canada\u2019s national security adviser and the head of Canada\u2019s spy service have travelled to India to meet their counterparts and to confront the Indian intelligence agencies with the allegations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He called it an active homicide investigation led by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Joly said Trudeau also raised the matter with U.S. President Joe Biden and U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Joly also said she would raise the issue with her peers in the G7 on Monday evening in New York City ahead of the United Nations General Assembly<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Opposition Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre said if the allegations are true they represent \u201dan outrageous affront to our sovereignty.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cCanadians deserve to be protected on Canadian soil. We call on the Indian government to act with utmost transparency as authorities investigate this murder, because the truth must come out,\u201d Poilievre said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Opposition New Democrat leader Jagmeet Singh, who is himself Sikh, called it outrageous and shocking. Singh said he grew up hearing stories that challenging India\u2019s record on human rights might prevent you from getting a visa to travel there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cBut to hear the prime minister of Canada corroborate a potential link between a murder of a Canadian citizen on Canadian soil by a foreign government is something I could never have imagined,\u201d Singh said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The\u00a0Khalistan movement\u00a0is banned in India, where officials see it and affiliated groups as a national security threat. But the movement still has some support in northern India, as well as beyond, in countries like Canada and the United Kingdom which are home to a sizable Sikh diaspora.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Nijjar had talked about an unofficial Khalistan referendum vote seeking a separate Sikh state. The Indian government had offered a reward for information leading to Nijjar\u2019s arrest or apprehension last year. The reward of 1 million was offered by India\u2019s National Investigation Agency, the country\u2019s counterterrorism body.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The World Sikh Organization of Canada called Nijjar an outspoken supporter of Khalistan who \u201coften led peaceful protests against the violation of human rights actively taking place in India and in support of Khalistan.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cNijjar had publicly spoken of the threat to his life for months and said that he was targeted by Indian intelligence agencies,\u201d the statement said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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