Ottawa. Tensions between India and Canada seem to be increasing. Now Canada has given signs of possible sanctions against India. Meanwhile, India has completely rejected all the allegations. Recently, Canada had made Sanjay Kumar Verma, the former Indian High Commissioner to Canada, a ‘person of interest’ in the investigation of a case. This means a person who is a suspect, but has not been arrested yet. Both the countries have shown the way out to 6-6 diplomats.
Amidst the increasing tension between the two countries, Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Jolie did not rule out the possibility of imposing sanctions against India and said that ‘all options are under consideration’.
This is how India can respond
According to India Today’s report, at present, there are lakhs of Indian students in Canada. If India bans students from pursuing education in Canada, it can have a deep impact. This decision can give a deep blow to Canada’s education-related economic system. Apart from this, India can cancel the OCI i.e. Overseas Citizen of India card of all the Canadian citizens of Indian origin who support Khalistan.
Along with this, India can end the property rights of Khalistan supporters. It can also delay new visas and increase in-depth investigation. In such a situation, pressure can be put on Khalistan supporters. India can also ban multiple entry visas of such Canadian citizens of Indian origin. If this decision is taken, then it can affect the Indian Canadian community. This can also affect the local politics of Canada.
In response to Canada, India can also impose restrictions at the trade level. Being a top 10 trading partner, India can affect the economy of Canada. Along with this, it can freeze the economic institutions and pension funds of Canada that have investments in India.
Canadian police had made these allegations
According to a report by Canada’s public broadcaster Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), the head of the country’s national police force Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) made shocking allegations in the context of India that agents of the Indian government were playing a role in ‘widespread violence’ including murders in Canada and warned that this posed a ‘serious threat to the country’s public security’.
He alleged, ‘These include confidential information gathering techniques, targeting and punitive treatment of South Asian Canadians, and involvement in more than a dozen threatening and violent acts, including murder.’ The Canadian Prime Minister said that his government’s efforts to work with India did not yield any results.
He said, ‘Therefore, this weekend, Canadian authorities took an extraordinary step. He met Indian officials to share RCMP evidence based on which it was concluded that six agents of the Government of India are persons involved in criminal activities.’
The RCMP has alleged that the Bishnoi gang is linked to ‘agents’ of the Government of India who are targeting the South Asian community in the country, especially ‘pro-Khalistan elements’. Indian government sources said that the claim of Canadian officials that Canada has given authentic evidence to India in the Nijjar case is not true.
America said – Trudeau government’s allegations are very serious, should cooperate in the investigation
The tension between India and Canada has once again increased over the murder of Khalistan supporter Hardeep Singh Nijjar. Now America has also entered it. America says that Canada’s allegations are serious and India should cooperate in its investigation.
US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said in a press briefing that we have made it clear that Canada’s allegations are very serious and they need to be taken seriously. We wanted the Indian government to cooperate with Canada and its investigation. But India chose an alternative path.
This is not the first time that the US has commented on the tension between India and Canada. Last year, when Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau accused India of involvement in Nijjar’s murder in Parliament, the US had expressed concern over India’s reaction to this. At that time, India had asked 41 Canadian diplomats to go back. Even then, Matthew Miller had said that the US believes that India should cooperate with Canada’s investigation.
Diplomatic crisis deepens between India and Canada
The diplomatic crisis between India and Canada has deepened once again over the Nijjar murder case. Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Joly had requested the Canadian government to remove the diplomatic immunity of six diplomats from India so that the investigating agencies could interrogate them. But India did not do so, so the diplomats had to be expelled.
Jolly said that we will not sit silent because agents of any country are trying to threaten, harass and even kill Canadian citizens.
India has also reacted to this action of Canada and expelled its six diplomats. India has asked the six Canadian diplomats to leave India by October 19.
What is the whole matter?
The whole matter is related to the murder of Khalistan supporter Hardeep Singh Nijjar. Nijjar has been declared a terrorist by India, although he was a Canadian citizen. He was shot dead near a gurudwara in Surrey, British Columbia on June 18 last year.
On September 18 last year, Canadian PM Justin Trudeau had accused Indian agents of being involved in the murder of Nijjar.
However, India has always rejected these allegations of Canada, calling them absurd and baseless. On Monday, when the Canadian police accused Indian diplomats and consular officials of taking advantage of their position to gather information directly or through agents, it means that Canada directly put Indian diplomats in the dock. Later, Trudeau also repeated these allegations in a press conference.
However, the Indian Foreign Ministry rejected it and clearly said that Trudeau is doing this for vote bank politics. After these allegations of Canada, India also recalled its High Commissioner Sanjay Kumar Verma. India clearly said that they no longer trust the current government of Canada.
Who was Hardeep Singh Nijjar?
Nijjar was the chief of the Khalistan Tiger Force. He had been living in Canada for the past several years and was fueling Khalistani terrorism against India from there. According to intelligence sources, Nijjar had become an even bigger headache for Indian investigative agencies in the last one year because he had started providing logistics and money to the henchmen of the Lawrence Bishnoi gang abroad.
When Trudeau visited India in 2018. At that time, the then Chief Minister of Punjab Amarinder Singh had handed him a list of Khalistani terrorists, which also included Nijjar’s name. The Union Home Ministry declared Nijjar a terrorist in 2020.
An FIR was registered against him in the 2010 bomb blast outside a temple in Patiala. The police were looking for him in many cases including inciting violence, promoting terrorist activities. The Indian government had declared Hardeep Singh Nijjar a designated terrorist. The NIA had also announced a reward of Rs 10 lakh on him.
©2024 Agnibaan , All Rights Reserved