Canadian Sikhs stage protests against Indian government over murder

TORONTO/OTTAWA (Reuters) – Canadian Sikhs staged small protests outside Indian diplomatic missions on Monday, a week after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said there could be a link between New Delhi and the murder of a Sikh separatist advocate in British Columbia.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau appeared in parliament a week ago to say that national intelligence agencies were actively pursuing credible accusations linking New Delhi agents to the shooting of Canadian citizen Hardeep SingNinja, 45 years old, in June.

About 100 protesters in Toronto burned an Indian flag and hit a cardboard cutout of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Mod with a shoe. About 200 protesters also gathered outside the Vancouver consulate.

In Ottawa, fewer than 100 people gathered outside the office of the Indian High Commissioner (embassy) in the capital. They waved yellow flags marked with the word “Khalistan,” a reference to their support for making India’s Punjab region an independent state for Sikhs, a cause Ninja campaigned for.

“We are truly grateful to Justin Trudeau…We want no stone left unturned to get to the bottom of this cowardly act,” said protester Reshma Sing Bolinas in Ottawa. Canada should pressure India to “stop the killing of innocent people in the future.”

Canada is home to some 770,000 Sikhs – the largest population of Sikhs outside their home state of Punjab – and in recent years there have been many protests that have irritated India.

India called Trudeau’s accusations “absurd.” She warned travelers last week that they were growing “anti-India activities” in Canada, urging “utmost caution,” but did not provide evidence or details of specific incidents.

The allegations have put Canada’s Sikh community in the spotlight. Sikhs represent only 2% of India’s 1.4 billion people, but they are the majority in Punjab, a state of 30 million people where their religion was born 500 years ago.

“The Indian government used dirty tactics and compromised Canada’s sovereignty,” said Kuljeet Sing, a protester in Toronto and member of the group Sikhs for Justice.

Canada’s accusations have sparked tit-for-tat retaliation, with each nation expelling diplomats and New Delhi suspending visas for Canadians.

Some of the protesters in both Toronto and Ottawa called for the expulsion of India’s High Commissioner (ambassador) to Canada, Sanjay Kumar Verma, who earlier said authorities had been informed of the protests and were providing security.

Ninja, who worked as a plumber, left the northern Indian state of Punjab a quarter of a century ago and became a Canadian citizen. He has supported the formation of an independent Sikh homeland. India designated him a “terrorist” in July 2020.

The Canadian government has accumulated human and signals intelligence in a months-long investigation into the Sikh separatist leader, CBC News reported last week, citing unnamed sources.

The United States worked closely with Canada on intelligence pointing to the possible involvement of Indian agents in the murder of a Canadian citizen in June, a senior Canadian government source told Reuters.

Our standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.