India recalls ambassador from Canada in growing dispute over Sikh activist’s assassination
India said Monday it was recalling its ambassador and other diplomats from Canada, hours after it rejected a Canadian notification that the ambassador was a “person of interest” in the assassination of a Sikh activist last year in British Columbia.
India’s foreign ministry said in a statement that it had also summoned the top Canadian diplomat in New Delhi and told him that “the baseless targeting” of the Indian high commissioner, or ambassador, and other diplomats and officials in Canada “was completely unacceptable.”
“We have no faith in the current Canadian government’s commitment to ensure their security,” it said.
The ministry said that India will withdraw its high commissioner and other diplomats and officials.
In September 2023, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said there were credible allegations that the Indian government had links to the assassination in Canada of Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar. India rejected the accusation as absurd. In response to the allegations, India told Canada last year to remove 41 of its 62 diplomats in the country.
Ever since, the relations between the two countries have been frosty.
After its explosive allegation of possible Indian involvement in the killing of one of its citizens, Canada receives only muted support from allies.
The Indian foreign ministry said Monday that “India reserves the right to take further steps in response to the Trudeau Government’s support for extremism, violence and separatism against India.”
In Ottawa, messages left for Canada’s foreign ministry, foreign minister and the prime minister’s office seeking comment were not immediately returned.
Stewart Wheeler, the Canadian diplomat, told reporters after being summoned that his government has shared “incredible, irrefutable evidence of ties between agents of the government of India and the murder of a Canadian citizen on Canadian soil.”
Wheeler said India must investigate the allegations and that Canada “stands ready to cooperate with India.”
Nijjar, 45, was fatally shot in his pickup truck in June 2023 after he left the Sikh temple he led in the city of Surrey. An Indian-born citizen of Canada, he owned a plumbing business and was a leader in what remains of a once-strong movement to create an independent Sikh homeland.
India designated him a terrorist in 2020, and at the time of his death, had been seeking his arrest for alleged involvement in an attack on a Hindu priest.
Earlier, the Indian foreign ministry said in another statement that it had received the Canadian diplomatic communication on Sunday and strongly rejected it as “preposterous.” It said the Canadian government hasn’t shared “a shred of evidence” with India, “despite many requests from our side.”
Sign up for Essential California
The most important California stories and recommendations in your inbox every morning.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
