Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s claim that India killed a Sikh activist in British Columbia was based on surveillance of Indian diplomats in Canada, according to multiple reports.
Trudeau’s allegations over the June 18 killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a 45-year-old Sikh separatist, have led to a widening rift between Canada and India and a series of diplomatic expulsions.
The prime minister’s allegations about the Indian government’s involvement in the gun killing, made public for the first time on Monday, were based in part on intercepted communications between Indian officials and the country’s diplomats in Canada, a Canadian official told the Associated on Thursday Press.
Some of the intelligence was provided by a member of the “Five Eyes” intelligence-sharing alliance, which in addition to Canada includes the U.S., Britain, Australia and New Zealand, the person said.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, did not say which ally provided intelligence and did not provide details on what was in the communications or how they were obtained.
Trudeau’s allegations over the June 18 killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar (seen above), a 45-year-old Sikh separatist, have led to a widening rift between Canada and India
Police say two gunmen escaped in this silver 2008 Toyota Camry driven by a third accomplice
A spokesperson for Trudeau did not immediately respond to a request for comment from DailyMail.com on Friday afternoon.
The Canadian broadcaster first reported the evidence suggesting India’s involvement, saying it included both human and signals intelligence.
The revelation came as India stopped issuing visas to Canadian citizens and ordered Canada to reduce its diplomatic staff as the rift between the two countries widened.
Ties between the two countries fell to their lowest point in years after Trudeau told parliament on Monday that there were “credible allegations” of Indian involvement in the killing on Canadian soil.
The bombshell claim sparked an international tit-for-tat, with each country expelling a diplomat. India called the allegations ‘absurd’.
Nijjar, an Indian-born plumber who became a Canadian citizen in 2007, had been wanted by India for years before he was gunned down in June outside the temple he led in the Vancouver suburb of Surrey.
Speaking on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly on Thursday, Trudeau acknowledged the complicated diplomatic situation.
“The decision to share these allegations in the House of Commons was not taken lightly,” he said. “There is no doubt that India is a country of growing importance and one with which we must continue to work.”
“We are not out to provoke or cause trouble, but we are unequivocal about the importance of the rule of law and unequivocal about the importance of protecting Canadians.”
Trudeau had frosty encounters with Modi (right) at the G20 earlier this month, where he told the Indian leader directly about his suspicions of government involvement in the killing.
Police are seen at the scene of the murder, which took place near a Sikh temple
Police assume that a getaway driver was a third accomplice of the two shooters. Above is a surveillance image of the getaway car
Mourners carry the casket of Sikh community leader and temple president Hardeep Singh Nijjar during Antim Darshan, the first part of a day-long funeral service for him, in Surrey, B.C.
A banner depicting Sikh leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar is seen at the Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara Temple, the site of his assassination in June 2023, in Surrey, British Columbia
Canada has not yet provided public evidence to support Trudeau’s allegations, and Canada’s U.N. Ambassador Bob Rae indicated that may not happen anytime soon.
“This is very early stages,” Rae told reporters Thursday, saying that while the facts will emerge, they “must come out in the course of pursuing justice.”
“That’s what we call the rule of law in Canada,” he said.
Meanwhile, the company that processes Indian visas in Canada announced that services had been suspended. According to India’s Bureau of Immigration, Canadians are among the top travelers to India, with 277,000 Canadian tourists visiting the country in 2022.
Indian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi blamed the visa suspension, including visas issued in third countries, on security concerns.
“Security threats faced by our High Commission and consulates in Canada have disrupted their normal functioning,” Bagchi told reporters. He provided no details about the alleged threats.
The announcement quickly spread across Canada, especially among people with ties to India.
Maitreyi Bhatt, a 27-year-old Indian citizen whose partner is Canadian and needs a visa, was distraught as her wedding is scheduled for late October in India, when he would meet her family for the first time.
“I cried all day,” she said. ‘It is so hard. I was so excited for him to meet my family.”
She said the location is fully booked and the couple has non-refundable flights. She said her partner had gone to the Indian consulate in Toronto but was escorted out by security.
“People like me are just caught up in this and it’s just not fair,” she said.
Sukhwinder Dhillon, a 56-year-old supermarket owner in Montreal, said he had planned a trip to India to see family and settle his late father’s estate. Dhillon, who came to Canada in 1998, makes the trip every two or three years and has lost two family members since he was last home.
“My father passed away, and my brother passed away,” Dhillon said. ‘I want to go now. … Now I don’t know when we’re going.”
Sikh separatists want their own independent homeland called Khalistan in the Punjab district of northern India. The exact boundaries of the proposed state vary between different groups
Bagchi, the Indian Foreign Ministry spokesperson, also called on Canada to dismantle its diplomatic corps in India as the number of Indian diplomats in Canada is greater.
The Canadian High Commission in New Delhi said Thursday that its consulates in India were open and continuing to serve customers.
It said some of its diplomats had received threats on social media, adding that Canada expects India to provide security to its diplomats and consular officials working there.
On Wednesday, India warned its citizens to be careful when traveling to Canada due to “increasing anti-India activities and politically condoned hate crimes.”
India’s security and intelligence wings have long been active in South Asia and are suspected of a number of killings in Pakistan.
But arranging the murder of a Canadian citizen in Canada, home to nearly two million people of Indian origin, would be unprecedented.
India has criticized Canada for years for giving free rein to Sikh separatists, including Nijjar. New Delhi had accused him of links to terrorism, which he denied.
Nijjar was a local leader in what remains of a once strong movement to create an independent Sikh homeland known as Khalistan.
A bloody Sikh uprising shook northern India in the 1970s and 1980s until it was crushed by a government crackdown that killed thousands of people, including prominent Sikh leaders.
While the active insurgency ended decades ago, the Indian government has warned that Sikh separatists are trying to make a comeback and has pressured countries like Canada, where Sikhs make up more than 2 percent of the population, to do more to counter them hold.
At the time of his murder, Nijjar was organizing an unofficial Sikh diaspora referendum on Indian independence.
New Delhi’s concerns about Sikh separatist groups in Canada have long strained the relationship.
In March, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government called on the Canadian High Commissioner in New Delhi, the country’s top diplomat, to complain about the Sikh independence protests in Canada.
Signs of a widening diplomatic rift emerged at the summit of the Group of 20 leading world economies earlier this month, hosted by India.
Trudeau had frosty meetings with Modi, and a few days later Canada canceled a trade mission to India planned for the fall. A trade deal between the two is now on hold.