India-Canada row

A furious diplomatic row between India and Canada has pushed an otherwise fringe separatist campaign for an independent Sikh homeland in Punjab into the international spotlight. The ‘Khalistan’ campaign dates back to India’s 1947 independence, and has been blamed for the assassination of a prime minister and the bombing of a passenger jet.

It has been a bitter issue between India and several Western nations with large Sikh populations. New Delhi demands stricter action against the Khalistan movement, which is banned in India, with key leaders accused of ‘terrorism’. Canada has alleged that India arranged the 2023 killing in Vancouver of a Khalistan campaigner, 45-year-old naturalized Canadian citizen Hardeep Singh Nijjar. Four Indian nationals have been arrested in connection with the murder. 

New Delhi, which wanted Nijjar for alleged terrorism offenses, calls the allegations ‘absurd’. In a separate case, in which New Delhi is cooperating, the United States has accused India of directing a 2023 failed assassination plot in New York. The alleged target was another Khalistan campaigner, dual US-Canadian citizen Gurpatwant Singh Pannun.

The US State Department on Wednesday said India had told it that an intelligence operative accused of directing the plot was no longer in government service.