Relations between India and Canada are now facing a serious downturn, after Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's comments in their Parliament. He has accused alleged "agents of the Government of India" of killing Canadian Khalistani leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar in June 2023. Trudeau’s accusation set off a chain of events. Canada expelled a senior Indian diplomat; India summoned the Canadian High Commissioner and expelled Canada’s Station chief for intelligence and now has asked the Canadians to reduce staff at the Canadian embassy in India. Also, India has temporarily stopped giving visas to Canadian citizens.
#Canada #CanadianPrimeminister #RavneetSinghBittu #JustinTrudeau #HardeepSinghNijjar #IndiaExpelsCanadianDiplomat #IndiaCanadaRelation #MEA #CameronMacKay #CanadaExpelsIndianDiplomat #MelanieJoly #IndianDiplomatExpelled #TrudeauOnNijjar #KhalistanTerrorist #Khalistan
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#Canada #CanadianPrimeminister #RavneetSinghBittu #JustinTrudeau #HardeepSinghNijjar #IndiaExpelsCanadianDiplomat #IndiaCanadaRelation #MEA #CameronMacKay #CanadaExpelsIndianDiplomat #MelanieJoly #IndianDiplomatExpelled #TrudeauOnNijjar #KhalistanTerrorist #Khalistan
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NewsTranscript
00:00 Relations between India and Canada are now facing a serious downturn after Canadian Prime
00:05 Minister Justin Trudeau's comments in their parliament.
00:08 He has accused alleged agents of the Government of India of killing Canadian Khalistani leader
00:13 Harjeet Singh Nijjar in June 2023.
00:16 Trudeau's accusation set off a chain of events.
00:19 Canada expelled a senior Indian diplomat.
00:22 India summoned the Canadian High Commissioner and expelled Canada's Station Chief for Intelligence
00:26 and now has asked the Canadians to reduce staff at the Canadian Embassy in India.
00:31 Also, India has temporarily stopped giving visas to Canadian citizens.
00:37 India and Canada established diplomatic relations in 1947.
00:41 This relationship was to be built upon shared traditions of democracy, pluralism and strong
00:46 interpersonal connections.
00:47 During the tenure of Conservative Party's Stephen Harper as Canadian PM from 2006 to
00:54 2015, Canada and India enjoyed strong relations.
00:58 There were 19 high-level visits from Canada to India and the joint celebration of 2011
01:03 as the Year of India in Canada during this period.
01:07 Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Canada in 2015 was the first bilateral visit
01:11 by an Indian PM since 1973.
01:15 India-Canada relations were elevated from bilateral relations to a strategic partnership
01:19 at the time.
01:21 The government praised the visit with the assumption that decades of mistrust over the
01:25 Khalistan issue could be brushed aside.
01:27 However, this was not to be and India-Canada diplomatic relations have deteriorated further
01:33 since 2015 due to the Khalistan protests and have increased in recent times.
01:39 The Khalistan movement in Canada traces back to Surjan Singh Gill's establishment of the
01:43 Khalistan Government-in-Exile office in Vancouver in 1982 with limited local Sikh support.
01:50 In June 1985, Canada suffered its most horrific act of ferocity when the Babbar Khalsa group
01:55 orchestrated the bombing of Air India Kanishka, resulting in 331 civilian deaths, including
02:01 80 children.
02:03 Investigations revealed that Talwinder Singh Parmar, who headed the Babbar Singh Khalsa
02:07 in Punjab, had masterminded the bombing.
02:11 What is the Khalistan movement?
02:13 The Khalistan movement is a fight for a separate, sovereign Sikh state in present-day Punjab
02:18 in both India and Pakistan.
02:21 The demand has resurfaced many times, most prominently during a violent insurgency in
02:26 the 1970s and 1980s, which paralysed Punjab for over a decade.
02:31 The movement was crushed in India following Operation Blue Star in 1984 and Operation
02:36 Black Thunder in 1986 and 1988.
02:39 But it continues to get sympathy and support among sections of the Sikh population, especially
02:43 in the Sikh diaspora in countries such as Canada, the UK and Australia.
02:49 In recent times, there have been quite a few anti-India activities in Canada that have
02:53 upset India.
02:55 In June 2023, a parade in Brampton, Ontario, seems to celebrate the assassination of former
03:00 Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, displaying a blood-stained figure and advocating revenge
03:05 for the attack on Darbar Sahib.
03:08 In 2022, the Sikhs for Justice, a pro-Khalistan organisation, conducted a so-called referendum
03:13 on Khalistan in Brampton, claiming significant support.
03:18 In 2002, the Toronto-based Punjabi-language weekly Sanjh Savera greeted Indira Gandhi's
03:23 10th anniversary with a cover illustration celebrating her murder, glorifying those responsible.
03:29 The magazine received government advertisements and is now a prominent daily newspaper in
03:33 Canada.
03:34 Indian diplomats based in Canada have on many occasions said that Canada's failure to tackle
03:40 Sikh extremism and the constant harassment of Indian diplomats and officials by Khalistanis
03:45 is a major foreign policy stretch point.
03:48 The Indian Prime Minister also raised strong concerns about Sikh protests in Canada and
03:53 the Canadian PM on the sidelines of this recent G20 summit in New Delhi.
03:58 On its part, Canada has paused talks on a proposed trade treaty with India.
04:03 But there have also been other points of contention between India and Canada.
04:07 The rift between the two nations became apparent as early as 1948 when Canada supported a plebiscite
04:13 in Kashmir.
04:14 In 1998, Ottawa recalled its High Commissioner to India following nuclear tests.
04:20 In recent times, PM Modi, in power since 2014, and Justin Trudeau, who assumed leadership
04:25 of Canada a year later, have been at odds over the issue of Khalistani extremism.
04:31 After appointing four Sikhs to his 30-member cabinet in 2015, Trudeau boasted about having
04:36 more Sikhs in his ministry than PM Modi.
04:39 With over 7.7 lakh Sikhs constituting approximately 2 per cent of Canada's total population, the
04:45 Sikh community holds significant political influence in Canada, boasting 18 Sikh MPs
04:50 in the Canadian Parliament in 2018, surpassing the 13 Sikh MPs in India.
04:55 The militancy in Punjab during the 1980s also had repercussions in Canada.
05:00 India's handling of individuals like Talweer Singh Parmar, accused of terrorism in Punjab,
05:05 was criticised by India.
05:07 In 2017, then Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh refused to meet Canadian Defence
05:12 Minister Harjeet Singh Sajjan, accusing him of associating with separatists.
05:17 A year later, Trudeau got a lukewarm reception during his visit to India when he was received
05:21 at the airport by Minister of State for Agriculture Gajendra Singh Shekhawat instead of PM Modi.
05:27 India was further aggravated when Jaswal Atwal, convicted of attempting to assassinate an
05:32 Indian cabinet minister in 1986, was invited to dine with Trudeau, even though the invitation
05:37 was later withdrawn.
05:38 In 2020, India accused Trudeau of inciting extremists when he expressed concerns about
05:45 New Delhi's response to the farmers' protest, pledging support for their rights.
05:49 In March of 2022, Trudeau's Liberal Party formed an alliance with the New Democratic
05:54 Party led by Jagmeet Singh, who openly endorsed the Khalistan referendum on Canadian soil.
06:00 Despite the diplomatic challenges over the years, India is Canada's 10th largest trading
06:04 partner.
06:05 Bilateral trade between India and Canada stands at $5 billion.
06:11 More than 400 Canadian companies have a presence in India and more than 1,000 companies are
06:15 actively pursuing business in the Indian market.
06:19 Unpensioned funds have pledged over $55 billion in investments between 2014 and 2020.
06:26 Canada and India are working toward a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement and a Foreign
06:31 Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement.
06:33 There are other significant investments in the development and energy sectors as well.
06:40 Keeping in mind the trade and investment involvement between the two countries and more importantly
06:44 the people-to-people contact, India and Canada have no choice but to find a way past the
06:49 current disagreements.
06:51 India has effectively conveyed to Canada that they cannot simultaneously have good relations
06:55 with India while allowing anti-India separatist movements on their soil.
06:59 The Canadian government, on the other hand, has political compulsions.
07:02 There are thousands of Khalistan supporters among their voters and they contribute significantly
07:07 to political and government funding.
07:09 The only way forward is constructive and sustained engagement.
07:12 (upbeat music)