Link to Article: https://apnews.com/article/india-canada-ambassador-recalled-sikh-assassination-f099e210d2f9df93fea18a9de04e06f8
News broke yesterday of the Canadian government’s decision to expel the Indian high commissioner and his fellow five diplomats due to allegations of the Indian high commissioner in Canada being tied to the death of a Sikh activist from June of last year. This comes alongside the Canadian government supporting allegations by its police forces of having evidence of a campaign attempting to undermine Canadian citizens by the Indian government and its foreign affairs ministry. Trudeau has alleged that the diplomats were collecting information for the Indian government and organized crime syndicates, which would threaten the safety of Canadian citizens going forward.
India’s government has denied the allegations as completely absurd. In turn, the Indian foreign ministry has given the notice to the Canadian high commissioner and fellow Canadian diplomats in India to expel from the country by this saturday. This is no shock as the continued souring of relations between the two has only worsened following Trudeau’s allegations made last year that he had credible allegations of India colluding and having ties to the assassination of a Canadian Sikh activist, named Hardeep Singh Nijjar.The RCMP have added to these credibility by declaring that they have clear and concrete evidence of collusion by the Indian government to the assassination.
This could mean various things, as shared members of the Commonwealth it could in turn affect the other states of the Commonwealth, including major international players like the United Kingdom and Australia. It has already had lasting effects as shown in the article, with crime increasing against Sikhs in Canada as a result of the dilemma that has been unfolding since India designated Nijjar a terrorist in late 2020. India has had continuous issues with its Sikh population, as they aim to create an independent nation-state for their people out of Indian soil. Further actions are unfolding as India has beckoned its Commonwealth partners in the UK, Australia, and New Zealand to ban the Sikh-Khalistan movement. It could even spill over to the American government, as further allegations have come across against Indian-backed assassination plots to kill Sikh leaders in New York City.
As it continues to unfold, I believe that relations will continue to sour and that it will indeed spill over to include the American government, and that relations may sour further, with India possibly taking further actions and expelling other diplomats from its borders. Canada’s government is holding firm with its stance as it maintains its stance that the evidence is unequivocally true. In this aspect it relates to class as the international level of analysis has to be heavily looked at due to the further international effects; it could spill over to other governments, and further involve fellow Commonwealth and Commonwealth-aligned countries. Further responses will affect the situation as nations like Australia, New Zealand and the UK have yet to take a direct stance, yet again sparking an international level of analysis.