Here’s a round-up of the tensions brewing between India and Canada since September 2023. 🇮🇳 🇨🇦
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00:00Canada has issued fresh allegations against India, but India said Canadian Prime Minister
00:05Justin Trudeau was indulging in boot bank politics.
00:08What exactly is going on?
00:10Let's go back to September 2023.
00:13On 18th September 2023, Justin Trudeau hinted at the involvement of the Government of India
00:19in the killing of Khalistani activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar.
00:22Nijjar was a citizen of Canada and was designated a terrorist in India.
00:26He had moved from India to Canada in 1997.
00:29He was one of the advocates of the pro-Khalistan movement, which sought to carve out an independent
00:35state from Punjab for Sikhs.
00:37India regards this movement a security threat, but it has proponents in Canada, Australia,
00:44Britain and the US.
00:45We have a complaint about Canada, the space that they are giving to Khalistanis and to
00:50violent extremists.
00:51We are at a loss to understand, other than the requirements of boot bank politics, why
00:56anybody would do this?
00:57Coming back to Nijjar, he was shot dead on 18th June 2023 outside a Gurudwara in Surrey,
01:03British Columbia, Canada.
01:05Exactly three months later, the Canadian Prime Minister said this in the House of Commons.
01:11Canadian security agencies have been actively pursuing credible allegations of a potential
01:17link between agents of the Government of India and the killing of a Canadian citizen, Hardeep
01:24Singh Nijjar.
01:25Any involvement of a foreign government in the killing of a Canadian citizen on Canadian
01:31soil is an unacceptable violation of our sovereignty.
01:37After this, Canada expelled Indian diplomat Pavan Kumar Rai, the RAW station chief in
01:42Ottawa.
01:43The Indian Ministry of External Affairs also rejected Canada's allegations as absurd and
01:48motivated.
01:49Then, India expelled a senior Canadian diplomat.
01:54Expelling and withdrawing diplomats has various implications for diplomatic relations between
01:59two countries.
02:00These implications could be tensions in bilateral relations, security threat or political disagreements.
02:06If a country expels a diplomat, they can never set foot in it again.
02:10The withdrawal of a diplomat means a country calling their officers back home.
02:14India and Canada pulled their diplomats more than once from the first time Justin Trudeau
02:19made the allegations in the House of Commons till October 2024.
02:23In May 2024, the Canadian police arrested four people in relation to Nijjar's killing.
02:30Somebody may have been arrested, the police may have done some investigation, but the
02:33fact is number of gangland people, number of people with organized crime links from
02:40Punjab have been made welcome in Canada.
02:43In October 2024, the Canadian Prime Minister once again alleged the Government of India's
02:47involvement in Nijjar's murder.
02:50Six agents of the Government of India are persons of interest in criminal activities.
02:55I know the events of the past year and today's revelations have shaken many Canadians, particularly
03:02those in the Indo-Canadian and Sikh community.
03:05Many of you are angry, upset, frightened.
03:10I get that.
03:13This shouldn't happen.
03:15Among the persons of interest in Canada's investigation was India's High Commissioner
03:20Sanjay Kumar Verma.
03:21Canada maintained that they asked India to waive the immunity of the six persons so they
03:26could be questioned during the investigation.
03:29But they said India refused to do so and Canada expelled the six diplomats.
03:33Subsequent to those notices, India announced it would withdraw its officials.
03:38In its response, India's External Affairs Ministry alleged that Prime Minister Justin
03:43Trudeau was seeking political gains by serving an anti-India separatist agenda.
03:48Canada was home to the largest population of Sikhs after India.
03:52India's Foreign Ministry statement dated 14 October 2024 read,
03:56The Canadian government has not shared a shred of evidence with the Government of
04:01India despite many requests from our side.
04:04This latest step follows interactions that have again witnessed assertions without any
04:09facts.
04:10This leaves little doubt that on the pretext of an investigation, there is a deliberate
04:14strategy of smearing India for political gains.
04:18India also expelled six Canadian diplomats after the new development.