Canada Warns India over Alleged Criminal Activities by Diplomats
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Canadian Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly on Friday warned that Canada will no longer tolerate criminal activity on its soil linked to Indian diplomats, escalating tensions between the two nations.
The warning comes after Canada expelled six Indian diplomats earlier this week, following an investigation by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP). The RCMP claims to have substantial evidence of murder and extortion carried out by agents in Canada under directives from New Delhi, according to Anadolu.
Among those expelled was India’s high commissioner to Canada, who has been named a person of interest in the June 18, 2023, killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a Canadian Sikh activist, in British Columbia.
India has strongly denied the allegations and retaliated by expelling six Canadian diplomats from its territory.
Joly said the evidence points to India’s use of criminal networks within Canada to carry out violent acts, including targeting Sikh separatists advocating for an independent Sikh state in India.
“There was definitely a threat, and that’s exactly why the RCMP decided to take the extraordinary measure of making public the fact that Canadians were being intimidated, victims of extortion, or even (received) death threats,” Joly said at a news conference in Montreal, as reported by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.
“We’ve never seen that in our history. That level of transnational repression cannot happen on Canadian soil.”
