A new national advocacy group is uniting Sikh voices from across the country to counter India’s interference in Canada as more details of an alleged state-sponsored campaign emerge.
Canada’s top security and intelligence officials say a member of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s inner circle may have ordered the collection of intelligence on Sikh separatists in Canada and authorized attacks on them by a transnational gang.
On Tuesday, Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister David Morrison confirmed a report than Canada has alleged Indian Home Affairs Minister Amit Shah, who is widely seen as Modi’s second in command, orchestrated the violent campaign. Morrison did not identify Shah by name but admitted that he had provided the information to the Washington Post, which first reported the link.
“The journalist called me and asked if it was that person and I confirmed it was that person,” Morrison said in response to questions from Conservative public safety critic Raquel Dancho.
Calls to action
The ties to Modi’s inner circle are adding to momentum behind the formation of Sikh Federation Canada, a new political advocacy group.
According to the Federation’s spokesperson, Moninder Singh, the new umbrella organization is “united and focused’ and brings together members of Sikh temples, student associations and other activist groups that advocate for sovereignty.
“We will ensure that there’s more empowerment when it comes to combating misinformation and disinformation from countries like India,” Singh said in an interview with CTV National News.
“We will push back against foreign interference that unfortunately leads to transnational repression and, in our case here, assassination in our places of worship,” he alleged.
Singh says the Federation is issuing four calls to action:
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It wants the Canadian government to suspend security and intelligence agreements with India, out of concern that the Modi government is misusing the information to target dissenting voices -
A public inquiry into Hardeep Singh Nijjar’s assassination and other violent activity linked to the government of India -
A commitment to prosecute all “conspirators and perpetrators of criminal activity” linked to India -
Funds and resources for Sikh community organizations to counter Indian disinformation
Singh says the new Federation will put pressure on “elected officials in Canada to do the right thing and not bend the knee to India when times are tough and put the community in situations where they are unsafe on Canadian soil.”
Rising diplomatic tensions as threats grow
Tensions between Canada and India have increased since the June 2023 killing of Sikh-Canadian activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Surrey, B.C. Three months after Nijjar was gunned down outside a Gurdwara in Surrey, B.C, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau stood in the House of Commons to announce that there were credible allegations of a potential link between agents of the government of India and Nijjar’s killing.
More revelations of violence and increasing danger to Sikh Canadians have arisen since Nijjar’s murder.
On Oct. 14, the RCMP said that Modi government officials were working through Lawrence Bishnoi, an alleged Indian gangster, to intimidate pro-Khalistani activists in Canada through extortion, arson and drive-by shootings.
The Mounties said that they had “duty to warn” more than dozen members of the South Asian community that their lives were at “imminent” risk.
That same day, Canada declared India’s High Commissioner persona non grata and expelled Sanjay Kumar Verma, who was based in Ottawa, and five other Indian diplomats.
New Delhi responded with similar measures and expelled six Canadian diplomats.
Since Nijjar’s death, National Security Advisor, Nathalie Drouin, says that top diplomats and security officials have tried to organize at least six meetings abroad to seek the cooperation of Indian officials. The last meeting occurred in Singapore ahead of the Thanksgiving long weekend, where Drouin and Morrison met with her Indian counterparts.
Drouin said Canada presented evidence. But instead of agreeing to help hold the alleged perpetrators accountable, Drouin says India “spread false narratives that Canada had showed them no evidence and that we were ignoring their concerns about Khalistani violent extremism.”