India blasts Canadian media claims linking Modi to murder plot

New Delhi has described a report alleging that the PM was aware of a Sikh separatist killing as “ludicrous” 

India has rejected a Canadian media report alleging that Prime Minister Narendra Modi was aware of the plot to kill Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a Sikh separatist leader. Nijjar was murdered in a Toronto suburb last year, and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau later publicly accused the Indian government of orchestrating the attack. 

Citing a senior national security official, the Globe and Mail reported on Wednesday that Canadian security agencies believe that Modi – as well as Indian National Security Adviser Ajit Doval and Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar – were aware of the plan to kill Nijjar as well as other “violent plots.” 

Jaishankar responded by describing the allegations as “ludicrous,” while an Indian Foreign Ministry spokesperson stated that “smear campaigns like this only further damage our already strained ties.” He added that New Delhi “has consistently maintained that it does not condone any acts of violence against individuals, nor does it support any form of terrorism.” The ministry also insisted that India is committed to addressing national security issues through lawful means.  

The latest allegations come weeks after Canadian officials named Indian Home Minister Amit Shah in connection with the killing of Nijjar – a claim New Delhi has also rejected as “absurd and baseless.” 

Ties between the two nations have been strained ever since Trudeau has alleged India’s role in targeting Sikh separatists leaders on Canadian soil. Khalistan supporters advocate for the establishment of a separate nation-state for Sikhs carved out of India’s Punjab state.  

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In October, India and Canada announced the tit-for-tat expulsion of diplomats, including high commissioners, following a round of new claims by Trudeau’s government against Indian officials’ alleged role in attacks. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police stated that Indian diplomats and consular officials based in Canada “leveraged their position to engage in clandestine activities such as collecting information for the government of India, either directly or through their agents and other individuals.”   

New Delhi has previously accused the Trudeau-led government of a “deliberate strategy of smearing India for political gains.” The Sikh diaspora is a significant voting bloc in Canada, and radical supporters of the Khalistan movement represent a comparatively small but vocal faction within this community.  

Nijjar’s case has been linked to another ongoing controversy over the Khalistan movement, which India considers a security threat. US prosecutors last year alleged that Indian officials were behind the assassination attempt against Sikh separatist leader Gurpatwant Singh Pannun in New York.  

In September this year, a New York court has summoned Doval and the Indian government in connection with the case. Pannun, who holds US and Canadian citizenship, was designated as a “terrorist” by the Indian Ministry of Home Affairs in 2020 for “challenging the sovereignty, integrity and security” of the country.