(Ottawa) India’s foreign minister says Canada is his country’s “biggest problem” when it comes to Sikh separatism.
Subrahmanyam Jaishankar also accused Canada of welcoming criminals when asked about his reaction to the developments in a homicide case that has stoked tensions between the two countries.
Last Friday, the RCMP laid charges against three Indian nationals in connection with the death of Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar, who was shot dead last June as he left a temple in Surrey, British Columbia.
PHOTO JAM STA ROSA, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE ARCHIVES
Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyan Jaishankar
His death sparked a wave of protests and rallies against Indian diplomats in Canada, particularly after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau accused New Delhi of playing a role in the killing.
Mr. Jaishankar says the protests in Canada have crossed the boundaries of free speech and he responded to last week’s arrest by repeating claims that Ottawa allows Indian criminals to immigrate to Canada.
He also accused Canadian politicians of various stripes of giving electoral clout to those who want to create a Sikh homeland separate from India, called Khalistan.
Minister Jaishankar made these comments on Saturday during an event organized in the city of Bhubaneswar in the state of Odisha during a forum of intellectuals.
One participant asked Mr. Jaishankar about countries like the United States and Canada wanting to partner with India while allowing people to support a separatist movement there, which New Delhi deems unconstitutional. Another participant asked about last Friday’s arrests, and Subrahmanyam Jaishankar answered both questions.
“It’s not really a problem in the United States; our biggest problem right now is in Canada,” Jaishankar argued, adding that the ruling Liberals and other parties “have given these types of extremism, separatism and proponents of violence a a certain legitimacy, in the name of freedom of expression. »
Mr. Jaishankar said he questioned Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly about “attacks or threats” against Indian diplomatic missions and personnel in Canada.
“I warn the Minister of Foreign Affairs (Joly) by saying: “Suppose this happens to you. If it was your diplomat, your embassy, your flag, how would you react?” We must therefore maintain our strong position,” he said.
Minister Jaishankar reiterated his department’s insistence that Ottawa allows criminal elements to operate in Canada and affiliate with Sikh separatists.
“Someone may have been arrested; the police may have investigated. But the fact is that a number of gang members, a number of people with links to organized crime in Punjab, were welcomed into Canada, he argued. They are wanted criminals in India, you gave them visas… and yet you allow them to live there. »
“The world is no longer one way”
New Delhi expressed the same concern a week before Justin Trudeau announced that India was suspected of involvement in Nijjar’s death last September. In its report on Mr. Trudeau’s meeting with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Mr. Jaishankar’s ministry denounced “the link between the forces (of Khalistan separatism) and organized crime, drug syndicates and human trafficking”.
But Ottawa has often maintained that India has not proven that the people it accuses of terrorism actually did anything that meets the criteria of the Canadian Criminal Code.
In February, a senior Canadian foreign service official told MPs that Canadian officials had offered “workshops” to their Indian counterparts on the rule of law because India’s definition of terrorism “does not always fit our legal system “.
In his remarks on Saturday, Mr Jaishankar added that “calls for separation of Khalistan would be rebuffed”, but he did not specify where this might come from.
“The world is no longer one-way,” he assured. There will be a reaction; others will take action or oppose it. »
The Indian High Commission in Ottawa did not immediately respond when asked whether Minister Jaishankar was referring to an Indian response or that of non-state elements.
M’s officeme Joly also did not immediately respond when asked for comment. Minister Joly has already stated that she wants to hold diplomatic talks with India in private.
Human Rights Watch says Mr. Modi has overseen a deterioration of civil rights in India and promoted an “ultranationalist ideology” that has fueled violent attacks against non-Hindu citizens.
The organization called on India to investigate possible involvement in Mr. Nijjar’s death, given “the repeated failure of Indian authorities to hold police and military personnel accountable for unlawful killings” in the country.
India has previously urged Canada to prosecute those who glorified those linked to the 1985 Air India bombing, which followed an intense period of ethnic violence.