NEW DELHI/MONTREAL: India said on Monday it was expelling six top Canadian diplomats after withdrawing its own envoy to Ottawa because he was named among “persons of interest” following the killing of a Sikh separatist leader.
India “decided to expel” six diplomats including Ottawa’s acting high commissioner Stewart Wheeler, his deputy and four first secretaries. “They have been asked to leave India by or before 11:59 pm on Saturday, October 19,” the foreign ministry said in a statement.
Earlier, India had said that it was withdrawing its envoy to Canada because Ottawa was investigating him and other diplomats as “persons of interest”, after the killing last year of a Sikh separatist leader.
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“We have no faith in the current Canadian Government’s commitment to ensure their security,” the foreign ministry said in a statement. “Therefore, the Government of India has decided to withdraw the High Commissioner and other targeted diplomats and officials.”
The development comes after India criticised Canada earlier during the day, saying Ottawa was investigating its ambassador and other diplomats as “persons of interest”, after the killing last year of a Sikh separatist leader.**
The 2023 murder of Canadian citizen Hardeep Singh Nijjar crashed diplomatic relations with India after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said there were “credible allegations” linking Indian intelligence to the crime.
India’s foreign ministry said in a statement it had “received a diplomatic communication from Canada suggesting that the Indian High Commissioner and other diplomats are persons of interest” in the ongoing investigation.
Nijjar – who immigrated to Canada in 1997 and became a citizen in 2015 – had advocated for a separate Sikh state, known as Khalistan, carved out of India.
He had been wanted by Indian authorities for alleged terrorism and conspiracy to commit murder.
Four Indian nationals have been arrested in connection with Nijjar’s murder, which took place in the parking lot of a Sikh temple in Vancouver in June 2023.
India on Monday called allegations it was connected to the killing as “preposterous” and a “strategy of smearing India for political gains”.
Last year it briefly curbed visas for Canadians and forced Ottawa to withdraw diplomats, and on Monday threatened further action.
Canada has ‘political compulsion’ to blame India for Sikh slaying: New Delhi
“India now reserves the right to take further steps in response to these latest efforts of the Canadian Government to concoct allegations against Indian diplomats,” the foreign ministry said.
Canada is home to some 770,000 Sikhs, who make up about two percent of the country’s population, with a vocal minority calling for an independent state of Khalistan.
In November 2023, the US Justice Department also charged an Indian citizen living in the Czech Republic with allegedly plotting a similar assassination attempt on US soil.
Prosecutors said in unsealed court documents that an Indian government official was also involved in the planning.