General
Canada Expels Indian Diplomats, Claiming They Were Part of a Broad Criminal Network
Canadian officials said the Indian government was involved in criminal activity, including homicide and extortion, to intimidate Sikh separatists. India, in return, kicked out American diplomats.
Canadian law enforcement officials said on Monday that the Indian government and its agents were running a broad criminal network in Canada, with a goal of intimidating and harassing Canadian Sikh separatists. The stunning accusations marked a grave new step in a dispute between the two nations that has been escalating for nearly two years.
A Canadian government official said that Canada had issued a persona non grata note on Monday morning to India’s High Commissioner to Canada Sanjay Kumar Verma, India’s top diplomat there, expelling him, along with a number of other diplomats, for their role in the alleged criminal activity, including extortion and homicide.
The Indian government, in a rival statement on Monday, said that it was pulling the diplomats out of the country, citing “an atmosphere of extremism and violence,” which it said endangered its diplomats’ safety in Canada.
The government also said it was expelling six Canadian diplomats from India, including the embassy’s second-highest ranking diplomat, Charge D’affaires Stewart Wheeler.
The two countries have been in an intense dispute following the assassination of a Canadian Sikh cleric in British Columbia in June 2023, which the government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada said at the time had been orchestrated by the Indian government.
Canada is home to a large Sikh community, and India has said that some Sikhs in Canada are actively involved in a secessionist movement that seeks to carve out a Sikh homeland, known as Khalistan.
