Two masked men cut down a separatist Sikh, activist of the Khalistan party who claims to create a Sikh state, in a parking lot in the suburbs of Vancouver, British Columbia: this scenario worthy of the beginning of a spy film is however very real and even constitutes the apple of discord which has been raising relations between India and Canada since the summer of 2023.
This Monday, October 14, the tension rose from a notch after the revelations of the Canadian federal police, who declared to have irrefutable evidence of “The involvement of Government Agents of India in serious criminal activities in Canada”. A manifest violation of the sovereignty of a state, resulting in the conduct of clandestine activities “Such as information collection”. After the arrest of three Indians suspected of murder in May 2024, all eyes naturally turned to New Delhi, which regularly vituates against the activism of Sikhs activists and accuses certain countries, such as the United States, Great Britain or Australia, of negligence guilty of these movements.
A few months later, the Prime Minister of Canada, Justin Trudeau, had raised the thesis of the political assassination by declaring publicly that he considered it as “Credible”arousing the ire of the main interested parties who had threatened to withdraw diplomatic immunity from forty Canadian diplomats, leading to their recall to the country. This scenario was repeated this week after the expulsion of six staff of the India Embassy in Canada, the lifting of diplomatic immunity of which had been requested (and refused) by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, which conversely led to the expulsion of the Active Business Officer of the Canadian Embassy in India.
Nearly 800,000 sikhs live in the country, or around 2 % of the population
The head of government of the country with a maple leaf A, clearly appointed his opponent by declaring that he would never tolerate “That a foreign government threatens and kills Canadian citizens on Canadian soil, which is a deeply unacceptable violation of Canada’s sovereignty and international law. »»
Nearly 800,000 sikhs live in the country, around 2 % of the population, making it the first community outside the Indian subcontinent and a significant votes reservoir for the current head of government, who knows how to count on his support. The khalistan movement, which has its relays in the Sik Diaspora around the world, seeks to detach the Pendjab, or part of the Pendjab, of the Indian Federation since the 1930s and the last hours of the British Raj. Also supported by Pakistan, too happy to be able to respond to the Bangladesh secession (ex-oriental-pakistan), the movement had triggered an insurrection in the eighties which had ended in failure.
