Canada has expelled six Indian diplomats, including its high representative, after police released evidence of ongoing violent criminal activity linked to the Indian government, a Canadian government source said today.
India had revealed today that it had withdrawn its diplomats after rejecting a notification from Canadian authorities that the Indian ambassador was a "person of interest" in a murder in Canada.
"We do not believe in the commitment of the current Canadian government to ensure his safety," he said.
The Indian government also summoned Canada's top diplomat in New Delhi, Stewart Wheeler, telling him that "the baseless attack" on the Indian high commissioner, or ambassador, and other diplomats and officials in Canada "was completely unacceptable."
"Canada has provided credible and irrefutable evidence of links between Indian government agents and the murder of a Canadian citizen on Canadian soil," Wheeler said in a statement to reporters after leaving the Indian foreign ministry.
"Now is the time for India to live up to its promises and look into all these allegations. It is in the interest of both our countries and their peoples to get to the bottom of this matter. Canada stands ready to engage with India," he added.
India's foreign ministry said today that "India reserves the right to take further action in response to the Trudeau government's support for extremism, violence and separatism against India."
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said last year that there were credible allegations that the Indian government had links to the June 2023 murder of Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Canada.
India has consistently dismissed the accusation as absurd, and last year instructed Canada to recall 41 of its 62 diplomats in the country.
The death of Canadian citizen Hardeep Singh Nijjar, who campaigned for the creation of an independent Sikh state in northern India called Khalistan, has soured relations between the two countries.
Killed in the parking lot of a Sikh temple in Vancouver (west), Hardeep Singh Nijjar, who immigrated to Canada in 1997 before being naturalized in 2015, was wanted by Indian authorities for alleged terrorism and conspiracy to commit murder.
About 770,000 Sikhs live in Canada, constituting 2% of the population, and there is an active minority calling for the creation of an independent state in India.
In November 2023, the US Department of Justice, in turn, charged an Indian citizen, resident in the Czech Republic, with having planned a similar assassination attempt in the United States.
Prosecutors said an Indian government official was also involved in the case.
