New Delhi summons Canada’s deputy high commissioner after reports of slogans supporting a Sikh homeland were raised at an event hosted by the Canadian prime minister.
India has summoned Canada’s deputy high commissioner and expressed “deep concern and strong protest” after an event hosted by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau raised separatist slogans in support of a Sikh homeland.
India’s foreign ministry said on Monday it had expressed “deep concern and strong protest” that such actions “could continue unhindered at the event.”
“This once again highlights the political space that has been given to separatism, extremism and violence in Canada. Your continued comments not only impact India-Canada relations but also promote a climate of violence and crime in Canada to the detriment of its own citizens,” the statement said.
Canada’s foreign ministry told Reuters in a statement that Trudeau had gathered “with thousands” in Toronto to mark the occasion of Vaisakhi, a harvest festival celebrated by the people of northern India.
According to Indian news agency ANI, slogans supporting the rise of a separatist state were raised at the event.
“We will always be there to protect your rights and freedoms, and we will always defend your community against hatred and discrimination,” ANI quoted Trudeau as saying at the event.
Bilateral diplomatic relations between the two countries deteriorated last year after Trudeau said Canada was “actively pursuing credible allegations” that Indian agents may have been linked to the June 2023 killing of a Sikh leader who was a Canadian citizen.
Hardeep Singh Nijjar, 45, was shot to death on June 18 outside a Sikh temple in Surrey, a Vancouver suburb with a large Sikh population. Nijjar supported a Sikh homeland in the form of an independent Khalistani state and was designated a “terrorist” by India in July 2020.
New Delhi has denied any formal government involvement in Nijjar’s killing.
The Sikh separatist movement was launched by a faction of the community in the late 1970s and unleashed a wave of deadly violence that killed thousands of people in the Indian state of Punjab, where Sikhs are in the majority.
While Sikh secessionism has largely subsided in India, pro-Khalist groups remain active internationally.
Canada has the highest Sikh population outside India’s Punjab and the North American country has been the site of many alleged separatist demonstrations that have angered India.