Latest news with #Nijjar
Time of India
31 minutes ago
- Politics
- Time of India
PM Modi likely to skip G7 Summit in Canada amid strains in bilateral relations
Prime Minister Modi is likely to skip the upcoming G7 Summit in Canada amid ongoing tensions over the Nijjar assassination row and strained diplomatic ties. Canada has yet to formally invite India, and growing concerns over Khalistani separatist influence continue to complicate matters. With both countries seeking a reset under PM Mark Carney, this marks a crucial moment in India-Canada relations. We break down what's at stake, the diplomatic fallout, and how this affects global geopolitics. Show more Show less
Hindustan Times
6 days ago
- Politics
- Hindustan Times
Carney govt seeks to build ties with India, says Canadian minister amid strained relations
Canadian foreign minister Anita Anand has said that Prime Minister Mark Carney's government looks forward to building its partnership with India as part of diversifying and building relationships globally, even as she acknowledged that pro-Khalistan figure Hardeep Singh Nijjar's killing continues to cast a shadow on bilateral ties. She said Ottawa was taking the relationship forward one step at a time. 'At the same time, we are looking forward to continuing to build this partnership, and we're looking forward to that as a Government – it's not just me,' Anand, an Indo-Canadian, told the Canadian newspaper Globe and Mail. Anand emphasised that the rule of law will never be compromised. The alleged links between Indian officials and the Nijjar's killing led to a diplomatic rift. The then Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told the Canadian House of Commons that there were 'credible allegations' of a potential link between Indian agents and the killing three months after Nijjar was murdered in June 2023 in British Columbia's Surrey. India dismissed the accusation as 'absurd' and 'motivated'. Four Indian nationals were arrested in connection with the murder last year. Anand said that Nijjar's killing continues to impact the bilateral ties. 'We are certainly taking it one step at a time. As I mentioned, the rule of law will never be compromised, and there is an ongoing investigation regarding the [Nijjar] case that you mentioned.' Anand echoed Carney about renewing the relationship with India. She added that the investigation into Nijjar's murder will continue under the auspices of an independent agency. On May 25, Anand spoke to her Indian counterpart, S Jaishankar. She thanked him for the productive discussion on strengthening Canada–India ties, deepening economic cooperation, and advancing shared priorities. Anand said she looked forward to continuing their work together. Jaishankar said they discussed the prospects of India-Canada ties. This was the first formal contact between the foreign ministers since February 2024, when Anand's predecessor, Mélanie Joly, met Jaishankar on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference in Germany. The ministers remained in contact before Ottawa in October last year asked New Delhi to waive diplomatic immunity for six Indian officials posted in Canada so they could be questioned about 'violent criminal activity'. New Delhi dismissed Ottawa's move to designate six officials as 'persons of interest' in the investigation and expelled six Canadian diplomats. India withdrew the six officials, including high commissioner Sanjay Verma. There have been indications of a potential thaw in the ties after Carney became Prime Minister in March and appointed Anand as the foreign minister. Modi congratulated Carney as it became clear on April 29 that he would lead the new government in Ottawa. In April, Carney called ties with India 'incredibly important' on many levels. 'On the personal level, with Canadians having deep personal ties, economically, strategically.' Anand made a similar remark while seeking re-election from the Oakville East constituency in March. 'We will make sure we have strong ties with nations whose people have immigrated here and settled here, including my mother's and father's homeland of India.' There has been little clarity on whether Canada will invite India and Modi as a partner country for the G7 summit in Alberta from June 15 to June 17. Carney is yet to publicly respond to Modi's congratulatory message.
The Print
06-05-2025
- Politics
- The Print
Fresh trouble hits India-Canada ties, New Delhi protests threatening language at Khalsa Day parade
'We have conveyed our concerns in the strongest terms to the Canadian High Commission in New Delhi regarding the parade held in Toronto where unacceptable imagery and threatening language were used against our leadership, and Indian citizens residing in Canada,' sources in the government said. A speech by one attendee at the parade Sunday targeted '8 lakh' Indians living in Canada, asking them to be removed from the country, while floats targeting Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar were also seen at the parade. The parade, according to videos and images being circulated, reportedly had pro-Pakistan and pro-Sikh separatist propaganda as well. New Delhi: Fresh trouble has hit India-Canada ties with New Delhi lodging a protest with the Canadian High Commission following threatening statements from Sikh separatists calling for Indo-Canadians to be removed from the North American country, and threats against Indian leaders during a Khalsa Day parade in Toronto. New Delhi called on Canadian authorities to 'act against anti-India elements who spread hatred and advocate extremism and a separatist agenda'. The protest by India against the space given to Sikh separatists in Canada comes at a time when New Delhi and Ottawa are looking at ways to reset ties that have sunk to their lowest point in recent years. Mark Carney led the Liberal Party to victory at the Canadian federal election last week, which potentially opened the doors for a thaw in ties between the two countries following the resignation of former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in January of this year. Trudeau, in September 2023, accused agents of the Indian government of being linked to the killing of the Sikh separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar. An Indian designated terrorist, Nijjar was gunned down outside a gurdwara in June 2023, in Surrey, British Columbia. New Delhi rejected the allegations as 'absurd and motivated'. In October 2024, India withdrew its High Commissioner to Canada and five other diplomats, following a request from Ottawa to waive their diplomatic immunity as a part of their investigations into Nijjar's killing. Subsequently, New Delhi expelled six Canadian diplomats, including the Acting High Commissioner and Deputy High Commissioner. India accused Trudeau of pandering to 'vote bank' politics in his refusal to take any concrete action to deal with Sikh separatists and went so far as to declare the country a safe haven for terrorists. As reported by ThePrint earlier, India is likely to appoint a new High Commissioner to Ottawa soon, given Carney's victory. However, a number of challenges remain, especially around the issue of the space given to Sikh separatists in Canada. India had lodged a protest against the pro-Sikh separatism slogans shouted during last year's Khalsa Day parade as well. Trudeau had addressed the crowd amid chants of 'Khalistan Zindabad'. A raft of political leaders addressed the gathering last year, including Leader of the Opposition Pierre Poilievre. The speech at this year's Khalsa Day parade in Toronto has outraged the Hindu community in Canada. The Canadian Hindu Chamber of Commerce 'condemned' the demand for 8,00,000 Hindus to leave Canada in a statement Sunday. 'There are 800,000 Hindus and over 1.86 million Indo-Canadians in Canada. The call at today's Nagar Kirtans in Malton & Etobicoke clearly targeted Hindus. History teaches us that calls for mass expulsion leads to unthinkable acts. This dangerous rhetoric must be denounced by all leaders,' the CHCC said in its statement on the social media platform X. CHCC condemns the call at today's Nagar Kirtan in Malton & Etobicoke demanding 800,000 Hindus leave Canada. There are 800,000 Hindus and over 1.86 million Indo-Canadians in Canada. The call at today's Nagar Kirtans in Malton & Etobicoke clearly targeted Hindus. History… — Canadian Hindu Chamber of Commerce (@chcconline) May 4, 2025 The Hindu Canadian Foundation (HCF) said in a statement on X that the 'silence of many political leaders' in response to the remarks 'must be recognised as implicit consent'. 'It is the duty of all MPs and MPPs, across party lines, to take a stand against this divisiveness and reaffirm Canada's commitment to religious harmony and inclusivity. A civilised society cannot tolerate hate-mongering and attempts to fracture our diverse communities,' the HCF said. Hindu Canadian Foundation strongly condemns the recent call By KHALISTANI EXTREMISTS to send back 800,000 Hindus to India during the Malton & Etobicoke Nagar Kirtan. Such statements foster division and spread hate against the Hindu Canadians . The Nagar Kirtan is meant to unite… — Hindu Canadian Foundation (HCF) (@officialHinduCF) May 5, 2025 (Edited by Sugita Katyal) Also read: With Mark Carney's win, India looks to reset ties, will appoint envoy to Canada 'soon'
Time of India
30-04-2025
- Politics
- Time of India
Why Khalistanis are the biggest losers of the 2025 Canadian election
There's a maxim that goes: Once you go woke, you go broke. The opposite is also true — go unwoke, go unbroke. And while the main story of the last Canadian election was that the Liberals managed to win after dropping the tangent that matters most for New Delhi is the amputation of the Khalistani gangrene that had infected Canadian politics. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now Not so long ago, Canadian politicians embraced Khalistanis with the enthusiasm of uncles hugging the bartender at a wedding reception. But if the 2025 result is any indication, the times are a-changin'. From left to right, Liberal leader Mark Carney, Bloc Quebecois Leader Yves-Francois Blanchet, NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh and Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre before French-language federal leaders' debate earlier this week Let's rewind. The Khalistan movement was born in blood and delusion. In the 1980s, it took tens of thousands of Indian lives, culminating in the assassination of Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and the bombing of Air India Flight 182, which also killed scores of Canadian citizens. It was a terror attack that shook the world, long before 9/11. It was terrorism dressed up as liberation. And while the fires died down in Punjab, they kept flickering in suburban gurdwaras across the West. Diaspora extremism exported a failed revolution — foreign passports in one hand, anti-India posters in the other. Enter Canada: the Disneyland of diaspora radicalism. Trudeau's Liberals treated Sikh extremism not as a national security threat, but as an ethnic mood board for vote-bank politics. His office deleted references to Sikh extremism from terrorism reports. Cabinet ministers smiled beside float parades featuring Indira Gandhi's assassination. And when known terrorists like Gurpatwant Singh Pannun threatened violence, Trudeau's government responded with mumbling about "freedom of expression." Then came Hardeep Singh Nijjar. When the Khalistani terrorist was gunned down in 2023, Trudeau to accuse India — a move that backfired spectacularly and made him a global meme, thanks mostly to the perennially online members of India armed with the world's cheapest internet and knowledge of English. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now In fact, if one simply read about Nijjar from Canadian or American outlets, one would have assumed Nijjar was a loving plumber who doubled up as an activist, gurdwara worker, and scrubber of kitchens — which all failed to mention that Nijjar had even gone to Pakistan for arms training. Like Father, Like Son Of course, the son's move was hardly surprising, considering that — a prominent Khalistani terrorist and co-founder of Babbar Khalsa International. Parmar was wanted in India for the murder of two Punjab Police officers. The Canadian government's refusal hinged on the technicality that India recognised the British monarch only as Head of the Commonwealth, not as Head of State. Canada argued that the Commonwealth extradition protocols therefore didn't apply. Parmar remained in Canada and went on to mastermind the 1985 Air India Flight 182 bombing — the deadliest terrorist attack in Canadian history, Trudeau's own intelligence chiefs later admitted they had no hard evidence. His Five Eyes allies blinked nervously. Even the Americans — never shy of sticking fingers into sovereign pies — politely urged Canada cooperate. India, meanwhile, acted like the adult in the room. It didn't roar. It didn't flinch. It simply waited — like a seasoned poker player watching a drunk bluff on an empty hand. Trudeau expelled Indian diplomats. India returned the favour. Trade talks froze. Visas stalled. And Ottawa suddenly realised that when you pick a fight with the world's fifth-largest economy, you'd better have more than just moral indignation. And then the collapse came. Khalistanis Lose , the turbaned torchbearer of Khalistani sympathy, went from kingmaker to cautionary tale. He . It was a fitting end for a politician whose rise to NDP leadership raised some questions over the leadership process. Back in 2017, Jagmeet Singh won the NDP leadership largely on the strength of new members signed up by his campaign — a victory some party veterans quietly questioned. While overall turnout was just 52.8%, Singh's recruits showed up in force, handing him 53.8% on the first ballot. The three other candidates, backed more by traditional NDP members, were left trailing. It was an early sign of how identity politics and bloc sign-ups could tilt the internal balance of Canadian parties — and, in Singh's case, how factions sympathetic to Khalistani rhetoric could find their way to the top through mobilisation rather than broad consensus. Come 2025, and the NDP lost official party status. Voters made it clear: backing separatist rhetoric isn't multiculturalism — it's madness. The Liberal Party, already battered by amateur-hour foreign policy, watched Trudeau shuffle off into political sunset, his India gambit having detonated in his face. But let's not kid ourselves. The rot wasn't limited to the Liberals. All Canadian parties — from Poilievre's Conservatives to Singh's NDP — played footsie with extremism. No one wanted to say the quiet part out loud: that Khalistani ideology, once draped in the language of rights and victimhood, had mutated into a cover for hate politics. Posters calling for violence against Indian diplomats. Temple attacks. Social media clips declaring Canada a settler state that must be decolonised — by whose army, one wonders? The intellectual decay ran even deeper. Canadian gurdwaras ran 'referendums' on Punjab's independence with the zeal of a rogue polling booth. Academia became a launchpad for agitprop masquerading as scholarship. Cultural events hosted masked radicals shouting slogans louder than their logic. Meanwhile, Indian consulates were stormed, Hindu temples graffitied — and Ottawa responded with bromides about tolerance. Through it all, India played the long game. Officials repeated a single line like a mantra: 'We have not received any credible evidence.' Translated: prove it or pipe down. Now, with Trudeau out, Mark Carney in, and a battered NDP nursing its wounds, New Delhi will smile quietly at the long game it has played in this diplomatic kerfuffle where it refused to give Canada the legitimacy it sought. When PM Narendra Modi tweeted post the election to congratulate Mark Carney, there was a particular phrase that found its way into the official wording. One assumes quiet diplomacy will be underway soon as India and Canada recalibrate after the flights of fancy of the Trudeau era. Let's be clear: this was never about all Sikhs. It was about a fringe movement that hijacked microphones in gurdwaras, manipulated victimhood, and wore the garb of human rights while chanting the slogans of insurrection. They paraded images of Indira Gandhi's assassination not as history, but as prophecy. They treated terror as theatre. And for too long, Canada applauded from the balcony. But the curtain has now fallen. The West's most Khalistan-friendly democracy just issued a political restraining order. India didn't gloat. It didn't need to. The Khalistan project in Canada didn't end with a bang. It ended with a ballot — and a very loud silence from Ottawa. Good riddance to bad proxies. As Hillary Clinton famously said all those years ago when words mattered in the corridors of power: "You can't keep snakes in your backyard and expect them to only bite your neighbour." Hopefully, it's a lesson Canada will heed going forward.
Economic Times
29-04-2025
- Politics
- Economic Times
Canada election results: NDP's Jagmeet Singh, a Khalistan supporter who wanted to ban RSS, suffers big blow in polls
AP New Democratic Party (NDP) Leader Jagmeet Singh As Liberal Party returned to power in an unexpected win, New Democrats Party (NDP) leader Jagmeet Singh, who was an alliance partner of Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau, seems to be suffering a major blow as the Canada's election results trickle in. Tensions between New Delhi and Ottawa were simmering since Trudeau's September 2023 allegation of Indian involvement in the killing of Khalistani terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar. Nijjar was shot outside a Sikh temple in Canada. Prime Minister Mark Carney's Liberal Party won Canada's federal election on Monday, capping a stunning turnaround in fortunes fuelled by U.S. President Donald Trump's annexation threats and trade war, according to Canadian public broadcasters. The Liberals looked headed for a crushing defeat until the American president started attacking Canada's economy and threatening its sovereignty, suggesting it should become the 51st state. Trump's actions infuriated Canadians and stoked a surge in nationalism that helped the Liberals flip the election narrative and win a fourth-straight term in power. What results hold for Singh? As per the Canada's election results website, Liberals are ahead in 158 ridings, while the Conservatives lead in 147. The Bloc Québécois is leading in 25 ridings, the NDP in 10, the Greens in 2, and no seats are currently led by the PPC or other parties. With 52% of polls reporting, the Conservatives have so far secured 114 seats with 53.2% of the popular vote, while the Liberals have won 108 seats with 50.4% support. The Bloc Québécois has claimed 18 seats with 8.4% of the vote, and the NDP has taken 1 seat with 0.5% of the popular vote. The Greens, the People's Party of Canada, and other parties have yet to win any seats. A total of 172 seats are required to form a majority government in the Canadian Parliament. Jagmeet Singh has been the favourite politician of Sikh extremists operating out of Canada as their ties with the outgoing PM are decades old, experts on Canadian politics told ET. Singh expressed support for the Canadian government's decision to expel Indian diplomats. ANI quoted him as saying, "We support today's decision to expel India's diplomats and we're calling on the Government of Canada yet again to put diplomat sanctions against India in place, ban the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh Network (RSS) in Canada, and commit to pursuing the most severe consequences for anyone found to have participated in organized criminal activity on Canadian soil."Singh also alleged that Canada has credible evidence linking Indian officials to Nijjar's murder. He stated, "Canada has long held credible evidence that the Narendra Modi government was involved in the murder of Canadian Hardeep Singh Nijjar on Canadian soil."The diplomatic tensions have increased following Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's allegations last year about Indian involvement in Nijjar's killing, which India has denied. Nijjar, labeled a terrorist by India's National Investigation Agency in 2020, was killed in June 2023, an incident that escalated the tensions between the two nations.
