NEW DELHI –
India formally protested on Saturday the Canadian authorities’s allegation that the nation’s highly effective house minister Amit Shah had ordered the concentrating on of Sikh activists inside Canada, calling it “absurd and baseless.”
Relations between the 2 international locations soured after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau mentioned final yr there have been credible allegations the Indian authorities had hyperlinks to the assassination of Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Canada. India has vehemently rejected the accusation.
New Delhi — lengthy anxious about Sikh separatist teams — has more and more accused the Canadian authorities of giving free rein to separatists from a once-strong motion to create an unbiased Sikh homeland, often known as Khalistan.
The diplomatic row led to the expulsion of one another’s prime diplomats final month.
“The Authorities of India protests within the strongest phrases to the absurd and baseless references made to the Union Dwelling Minister of India,” Randhir Jaiswal, spokesman of India’s overseas ministry instructed reporters on Saturday.
He additionally mentioned a Canadian diplomat in New Delhi was summoned on Friday and handed out a letter to formally protest the allegation. “Such irresponsible actions may have critical penalties for bilateral ties,” he mentioned.
Canada’s Deputy Overseas Affairs Minister David Morrison instructed Parliament members of the nationwide safety committee on Tuesday that he had confirmed Shah’s identify to The Washington Publish, which first reported the allegations. Morrison didn’t say how Canada knew of Shah’s alleged involvement.
Canadian authorities have repeatedly mentioned they shared proof with India whose officers deny being supplied with proof, calling the allegations ridiculous.
Nijjar was an area chief of the Khalistan motion, banned in India. India designated him a terrorist in 2020, and on the time of his loss of life was in search of his arrest for alleged involvement in an assault on a Hindu priest in India. He lived in Canada, the place about 2% of the inhabitants is Sikh, for almost three many years.
