Canadian Defence Minister Wants to “Continue Partnerships with India”
Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Sept 25: Amidst deteriorating relations between the two countries over Canada’s allegations against India of having hands in killing one of its citizens, a Khalistani terrorist, Canada’s defence minister has talked about pursuing partnerships with India even as the investigation into the murder allegation continued.
Terming the relationship with India as “important”, Canada’s Defence Minister Bill Blair has said his country would continue to pursue partnerships like the Indo-Pacific strategy while the investigation of the killing Hardeep Sigh Nijjar, the chief of the Canada-based “Khalistan Tiger Force” continued. Tensions flared up between India and Canada following Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s explosive allegations of “potential” involvement of Indian agents in the killing of Nijjar, 45, on June 18 in British Columbia.
India which had designated Nijjar as a terrorist in 2020, angrily rejected the allegations as “absurd” and “motivated” and expelled a senior Canadian diplomat in a tit-for-tat move to Ottawa’s expulsion of an Indian official over the case. The diplomatic relations between the two countries has since continued to deteriorate with India claiming that no evidence was submitted in support of the allegations and Canada claiming that proofs were submitted weeks ago but not acted upon by the Indian government.
Delhi traders’ body CTI on Monday urged the Central government to ban import of lentil (masur) from Canada, over Ottawa’s allegations relating to the killing of Nijjar. In a letter to Union Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal, the Chamber of Trade and Industry (CTI) said there was need to exert economic pressure on Canada. Chairman of CTI, Brijesh Goyal, said that the development has sent ripples through the business world. Indian traders have demanded that India should ban import of lentils from Canada, which was a major supplier of the commodity.
A Canadian Sikh group has called on its members to protest outside the Indian diplomatic missions of main Canadian cities on September 25, a week after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau raised the prospect of New Delhi’s involvement in the murder of Nijjar.
Jatinder Singh Grewal, a director for “Sikhs for Justice” said his organisation would lead the demonstrations outside the Indian embassies and consulates in Toronto, Ottawa and Vancouver to increase public awareness about Nijjar’s killing. “We are asking Canada to expel the India Ambassador,” Mr. Grewal said.
Representatives for India’s diplomatic missions in Ottawa and Toronto were not immediately available for comment. The Toronto Police Department said it was aware of the planned demonstrations but declined to disclose details of the security preparations or potential response to any violent situations that may arise during the protest.
The impact of the bitter row between the two countries was being felt in Punjab where some Sikhs fear both a backlash from India’s Hindu-nationalist government and a threat to their prospects for a better life in North America. “We now fear whether Canada will give student visas or if the Indian government will create some hurdles,” some aspirants for Canadian visa said.
Meanwhile, the sources in the National Investigation Agency (NIA) which confiscated in Punjab the property of Canada-based another Khalistani terrorist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun last week, said claimed that Pannun wanted to create “many countries by dividing India.”
According to a NIA dossier on Pannun, the head of the banned separatist group “Sikhs for Justice,” he “has challenged the unity and integrity of India by audio messages” and “wants to create a separate country for people of Kashmir… and create a Muslim country.”
Pannun has been wanted by the NIA since 2019 for playing a major role in promoting and commissioning terrorist acts to spread fear across Punjab and the country. Investigations have also revealed the Pannun-led Sikhs For Justice “misuses cyberspace to radicalise gullible youth… instigates them to undertake terrorist activities and fight for an independent state of Khalistan.” In 2019 the Indian government banned Sikhs For Justice.
In July 2022 the Union Home Ministry declared Pannun a terrorist but Interpol twice rejected the Indian government’s request to issue a Red Corner Notice, citing insufficient information. More recently, he threatened senior Indian diplomats and government functionaries in Canada amid the massive diplomatic row between India and Canada over the killing of Nijjar.
The dossier on Pannun also says he “wants to seduce the Muslims (and) create a Muslim country that he wants to name as ‘Democratic Republic of Urdustan’, and that he is radicalising people in Jammu and Kashmir to enable the latter’s separation from the Indian Union. According to security agencies, there are a total of 16 cases against Pannun; these have been registered in Punjab, Delhi and Himachal Pradesh, as well as Haryana and Uttarakhand. Pannun also faces nearly two dozen other cases in Punjab alone, including three of sedition.
