(Ottawa) Warnings to India
Twice in a month. The National Security and Intelligence Advisor to the Prime Minister, Jody Thomas, who does not travel for peccadilloes, went to India twice in the space of just a few weeks, to discuss with the authorities New Delhi over allegations surrounding the June 18 murder of Sikh leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Surrey, British Columbia – an assassination that US court documents indicate was closely linked to the attempted murder of another Sikh activist in the United States, Gurpatwant Singh Pannun.
The G20 summit
M’s second visitme Thomas, it was at the beginning of September – she had been there in mid-August before that – when the Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi, received the leaders of the G20 in New Delhi. Yes, this summit where the photos of Justin Trudeau and his Indian host attracted so much attention, given the icy image they gave off.
PHOTO SEAN KILPATRICK, ASSOCIATED PRESS ARCHIVES
Justin Trudeau and Narendra Modi at the G20 summit in New Delhi last September
This summit where, following a bilateral meeting between the two prime ministers, the Canadian government already feared reprisals against the diplomats, according to our information. And yes, this summit at the end of which Canada’s plane remained stuck for two days on the tarmac of New Delhi airport.
The bomb in the Commons
The Trudeau government refused India’s offer to bring the Canadian delegation back on board one of its planes, and finally, the old government aircraft landed on September 12 in Ottawa. A few days later, Justin Trudeau stood up in the House of Commons to solemnly announce, based on “credible allegations”, that India had sponsored the murder of Hardeep Singh Nijjar. The accusations went around the world and some criticized the Prime Minister for speaking too quickly. The decision to drop this bombshell at this time was largely because the Prime Minister’s Office was informed that the Globe and Mail was preparing to publish the information and that it was considered that it should be up to him to control the message.
The antennas of the Five Eyes
The government was still in possession of information circulating within the Five Eyes – security alliance bringing together the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand and Canada. “Information shared between members contributed to leading Canada to make this declaration,” the United States Ambassador to Canada, David Cohen, said on CTV a few days after the announcement. According to the Canadian Minister of Public Safety, Dominic LeBlanc, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) have been working in collaboration with American law enforcement since the beginning of the summer on this issue. No charges have been filed yet in the Hardeep Singh Nijjar murder case.
Modi’s footprint
“One could say that the use of political violence is a trademark of the BJP [Bharatiya Janata Party, le parti de Narendra Modi] », Notes Serge Granger, professor of political science at the University of Sherbrooke. Its export to foreign countries – notably in the West, where Indian power is being courted in order to circumvent China – is however “surprising”, judges this India specialist. In his crystal ball, he already sees New Delhi designating a scapegoat to save the furniture. “We’re going to exonerate, I presume, Mr. Modi, maybe the members of the Cabinet, and we’re going to put the blame on someone in the administration on the pretext that these plans didn’t go up to the top of the pyramid policy,” predicts Mr. Granger.
Bittersweet feeling among Sikhs
Moninder Singh sums up his reaction to the indictment in the United States, where his friend, the late Hardeep Singh Nijjar, is named, in three words: validation, confirmation and… vindication. “A priori, India claimed that Canada’s allegations were absurd. With what has been made public in the United States, it now leaves very little to the imagination,” argues the man who is also spokesperson for the Council of Gurdwaras (Sikh Temples) of British Columbia. Despite this, each reminder of the assassination of his friend, a “pillar” of the community in Surrey, “reopens the wound”, he confides. And how is the community doing? “Feelings of frustration with India are growing, and for many people who were undecided about the pro-Khalistan movement [État indépendant sikh en Inde]the relationship of trust with India is broken,” he replies.
And now, what do we (Canada) do?
Canada has paid dearly for its public rebellion against India. Among other things, the government had to remove from India 41 of its 62 diplomats whom New Delhi wanted to strip of their diplomatic immunity. So far, no retaliatory measures have been taken against Washington following the filing of the indictment. “Canada does not have the weight of the United States and, for some time, we have had the impression that it is serving as a punching bag for several countries,” notes Professor Serge Granger. In Ottawa, since the beginning of this saga, the watchword in the ministries concerned has been to avoid anything that could cause an escalation.
1. Past participle of the English verb vindicate. “The act of proving that what a person said or did was accurate or true, after others have thought it to be wrong,” according to a dictionary translation of the definition Cambridge.