India-Canada Diplomatic Row: Why Canada Is Important And Why Both Sides Need To Settle Row

India-Canada Diplomatic Row: Prime Minister of Canada Justin Trudeau took an unprecedented step Tuesday of going public and blaming India for the killing of Khalistan sympathiser Hardeep Singh Nijjar. New Delhi, however, believes the matter cannot be allowed to fester and needs to be resolved in order to counter China, and also to have Ottawa’s support in several key multilateral decisions such as at the UN as well as the Nuclear Suppliers’ Group (NSG), ABP LIVE has learnt.

External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar Wednesday met Prime Minister Narendra Modi even as India issued a strongly-worded travel advisory for Indians going to Canada, updating the one issued in September 2022. The current advisory came a day after Canada made the allegations against India and expelled Indian diplomat Pavan Kumar Rai, who had been deputed by the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), while India asked Olivier Sylvestere, the Canadian intelligence agency station chief in India, to leave the country in the next five days.

India considers Canada to be a partner when it comes to sharing intelligence inputs and counterterrorism measures in identifying and catching the Khalistan elements. New Delhi has activated all its diplomatic and intelligence channels in the UK, the US and Australia to identify the network run by outfits like ‘Sikhs for Justice’ (SFJ) and other affiliated bodies run by Khalistan sympathisers, according to top intel sources.  

India believes while Canada had to be given a befitting reply for maligning India’s name publicly, the matter requires deft handling as the Trudeau government relies heavily on the Sikh community there to garner votes and so he does not want to upset them by resorting to heavy-handed tactics against those who nurture the hope of creating a separate country – Khalistan – for the Sikhs. But, there are many Canadian politicians who think India’s concerns are genuine and encouraging the activists can cause a threat to Canada’s own national security too.

Also Read: India Rejects Canadian PM Trudeau’s Allegations As ‘Absurd And Motivated’, Expels Senior Diplomat

Shadow Of Kanishka Bombing On India-Canada Ties 

Many Canadian politicians believe that the Sikh extremism in Canada might harm them more than it will do to India. Canada became a victim of the Khalistani extremism when in June 1985 Air India flight 182 got bombed mid-air killing all 329 passengers and crew on board, out of which majority were Canadians, a senior Canadian diplomat told ABP LIVE.

The 1985 Kanishka bombing was carried out by dreaded Sikh extremist group Babbar Khalsa International (BKI), now a banned terror outfit. On Wednesday, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) announced cash rewards for information on five BKI members. Out of the five members, is a Pakistani national, said the NIA.

The Canadian diplomat quoted above said India and Canada exchange inputs regularly even as Ottawa keeps New Delhi abreast of the activities of SFJ as well as that of some of the Sikh temples where such the activists take shelter, spread the propaganda and plan out their so-called referendums.

On Tuesday, when Canada’s High Commissioner to India Cameron MacKay was summoned to the MEA, he was asked why Trudeau chose to go public with the intel he got regarding Nijjar’s killing.

“India has every right to consider as ‘unacceptable’ the statement that has been made in the Canadian Parliament on Monday. Successive Indian governments, including at the highest level, have been making Canada aware, with hard evidence, for over four decades now, of India’s legitimate security concerns – over the ability of anti-India elements to operate against India from Canadian soil,” Gaitri Issar Kumar, former High Commissioner of India to the UK, told ABP LIVE.

Kumar added: “Our government remains seriously concerned about the impunity with which the goal of ‘Khalistan’ has been promoted in Canada and other countries where these vested interests are based — even though there is close to zero support for it in India in whose sovereign territory the state of Khalistan is envisioned by these entities. Does that mean we will cut off ties with all those Governments? Of course not.”

She said these so-called ‘Khalistanis’ have been very visible and active in Canada since the mid-1980s. “Canadian security agencies have been working with India in addressing the scourge of terrorism — I recall an occasion, in 2008/9 if I remember correctly, when they had identified and repatriated a terrorist who had been living incognito in Canada for almost 17 years by then. We have continued to pursue a fairly substantive bilateral agenda for co-operation against terrorism,” she said.

Kumar added: “With this background, I must say, from what I understand of the issue, it is most unusual that a formal statement was made and a senior Indian diplomat expelled — even as the veracity of the allegations had not yet been established.”

On Wednesday, Prime Minister Trudeau sought to pacify India as he said: “The Government of India needs to take this matter with the utmost seriousness. We are doing that, we are not looking to provoke or escalate, we are simply laying out the facts as we understand them and we want to work with the Government of India to lay everything clear.”

Anil Wadhwa, former Secretary (East), Ministry of External Affairs, said: “The escalation by Canada and the statements by Trudeau and the Canadian foreign minister indicate the pressure being felt domestically by the Trudeau government from the Khalistani elements in Canada. Once the matter has been raised at the highest level and India had rejected any allegations of this absurd nature the Canadian government should have worked with Indian authorities to allay any concerns.”

He added, “Trudeau today is doing all this for his survival acting as a mouthpiece of Jagmeet Singh of NDP (New Democratic Party). The internecine gang warfare for control of gurdwaras has been responsible for the killing of wanted elements and terrorists like Nijjar. Yet it is the absurd thinking of the Khalistani elements that they are being targeted by ‘Indian agents’ – a line that Trudeau  has bought hook, line and sinker.”

The NDP is main support system of the Trudeau government that commands over 24 seats in their parliament.

From Nuclear Pact to Pulses, India-Canada Ties Are Multifaceted

India and Canada have a civil nuclear agreement, Canadian pensions funds have invested over $50 billion across several strategic sectors in the country, and almost 50 per cent of India’s pulses imports come from Canada. India and Canada launched negotiations for having a free trade agreement – Comprehensive  Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) – in November 2010. The negotiations never witnessed steady progress and last week both countries decided to mutually pause the talks owing to rising political tensions.

Canada launched its own Indo-Pacific policy in November 2022 that idenfies China as a “disruptive global power” that is seeking to “militarise” the South China Sea region. On the other hand, Ottawa believes that India is a “critical partner” of Canada with which it “will seek new opportunities to partner and engage in dialogue in areas of common interest and values, including security and the promotion of democracy, pluralism and human rights.” 

During the visit of Canadian Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly to India in February this year, both sides had agreed to advancing security cooperation and work closely together in the region against common threats.

“The fact that they (Canada) have chosen to escalate this issue on the basis of ‘credible allegations’ and ‘possible links’ to Indian agents is deliberate and misleading,” said Wadhwa, adding: “I see a further escalation in this spat which will affect our trade and people-to-people ties in a major way. Canada will try to involve the US and its allies in this spat and this will play out in international fora as well. It will be a downhill slope for Indo-Canadian relations for which the Trudeau government is solely responsible.”

Wadhwa stressed: “This downhill slope must be stemmed. We need Track 2 feelers and an amicable settlement.”

According to Kumar, who was India’s envoy to the European Union, “India and Canada have nurtured a considerably comprehensive, mutually beneficial bilateral relationship. For example, a bulk of our daily pulses comes from Canada. India is the top source of students arriving into Canadian colleges every year. In space and civil nuclear sectors and collaboration in science and technology, there are significant synergies that we have built upon successfully over the decades. Therefore these unprecedented developments are of concern.”

She also highlighted: “I would attribute the indifference and lack of action by the current Canadian Government to address India’s legitimate security concerns — as well as the recent unfortunate sequence of events to the particular political dynamics within Canada. However, I am confident that our government will be firm and yet remain open to working with Canada to overcome the current crisis. I am hopeful that the Canadian side will recognise that swift course correction would also be in their own security interests.