According to persons acquainted with the situation, senior Indian and Canadian diplomats have met at least twice in recent months to examine the activities of pro-Khalistan elements in the North American nation. The Indian side has expressed worries over threats made against its diplomats in Canada.
The discussions between the ambassadors were a follow-up to those that HT first reported on at the beginning of the year with senior security officials from Canada and India. According to people from both sides who spoke anonymously, while the assassination of Khalistani activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar in June of last year was a factor in these discussions, the main goal of the conversation was to advance bilateral ties, including the resumption of working group meetings.
On the fringes of Asean-related events in the Laotian city of Vientiane during the first week of June, Weldon Epp, the assistant deputy minister at Global Affairs Canada overseeing the Indo-Pacific region, met Secretary (East) in the External Affairs Ministry, Jaideep Mazumdar, the sources said. Both ambassadors were in Laos for an ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) summit with senior authorities.
After after, according to the people, Epp travelled to New Delhi for another meeting with Mazumdar. The secretary (East) is in charge of managing the ties to Canada.
According to the persons, the Indian side expressed its concerns regarding the actions of pro-Khalistan elements in Canada, particularly the threats made against Indian ambassadors and diplomatic facilities. These issues were brought up in light of the fact that certain Khalistani activists and organizations had been prohibited under Indian anti-terrorism legislation.
The Canadian side told New Delhi during the talks that while pro-Khalistan demonstrations against India are “lawful but awful,” Ottawa does not support them. They said that similar language, or a variation on it, had been used in previous conversations, notably those between Mélanie Joly, the foreign minister of Canada, and S. Jaishankar, the minister of India.
Regarding the meetings, there was no formal statement from the Indian end.
According to one of the individuals mentioned above, “Both sides felt there was a need to have a conversation away from the public glare so that important issues could be discussed and ways to take the relationship forward.”
According to another source, the discussions have mostly been “constructive.” This individual stated, “Canada is better sensitized,” in reference to India’s worries. The source went on to say that the conclusion was that “functional joint committees should take place.”
A series of posters that specifically target the highest-ranking Indian diplomats in Canada, such as High Commissioner Sanjay Verma, have particularly irritated India. The Indian Prime Minister and members of the Cabinet, including Jaishankar, have appeared in later editions. India has also lodged complaints regarding floats that show the killing of the late Prime Minister Indira Gandhi with Canada’s foreign ministry, including verbatim or unsigned diplomatic documents.
According to the individuals, October 1 is the date of the next hearing in the case against the four guys, Karan Brar, 22, Kamalpreet Singh, 22, Karanpreet Singh, 28, and Amandeep Singh, 22, who are all suspected of being involved in Nijjar’s death. They also stated that it is anticipated that Canadian prosecutors will provide hundreds of pages of evidence during the hearing.
According to the sources, this is anticipated to lead to a few-week delay so that the defence may review the material.
India designated Nijjar as a terrorist in 2020 after he was shot and killed in Surrey on June 18 of last year. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s claims in September 2023 that there may have been a connection between the death of a Khalistani activist and Indian government operatives were rejected by New Delhi as “absurd.”