Nothing remains normal in Canada-India relations any longer–even in how allegations are levelled. When a Canadian official alleged on October 29 that Home Minister Amit Shah was behind a campaign of violence targeting Sikh separatists in Canada, he did so in a bizarre and convoluted fashion.
Deposing before a parliamentary committee, Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Morrison confirmed he was the source of the leak to The Washington Post, which first claimed that the campaign of violence in Canada led all the way to Shah. “The journalist called me and asked if it was that person. I confirmed it was that person,” Morrison told the committee. It’s bizarre for a source to out themselves as Morrison did–but that’s exactly what happened during the committee hearing.
The Canadian official provided no details about the basis for the allegations levelled against Shah, arguably one of the most powerful Home Ministers India has seen in recent decades.
It’s time that the Canadians provided India (and the rest of the world) with details of how they reached their conclusions about Shah’s alleged role. If the charges were previously in the background, they are now very official. Given the stakes involved for bilateral relations, Canada must detail these allegations.
On November 2, India finally denied the charges against Shah. During a regular briefing, the External Affairs Ministry spokesman said that India protested in the “strongest terms to the absurd and baseless references made to the Union Home Minister.”
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“In fact, the revelation that high Canadian officials deliberately leaked unfounded insinuations to the international media as part of a conscious strategy to discredit India and influence other nations only confirms the view Government of India has long held about the current Canadian government’s political agenda and behavioural pattern. Such irresponsible actions will have serious consequences for bilateral ties,” the spokesman added.
Canadian officials–including National Security Advisor Nathalie Drouin–have suggested they went public with the charges against India after stout denials from Indian counterparts about any role that Indian officials may have played in the killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a Khalistani seperatist, on Canadian soil in June 2023.
Trust deficit
It bears reminding that Canada was, until recently, a friendly country where nearly 1.4 million people of Indian heritage live. Today, all that seems to have changed. The language being used by both Ottawa and New Delhi suggests a massive trust deficit between the two countries.
How will this yawning trust deficit impact Canada’s issuing of visas for Indians? Will the number of Indian students choosing Canada be affected? Will this have an overall impact on Indian immigration as the United States, too, has filed charges against two Indian nationals, including a former intelligence agent, Vikash Yadav, who are accused of trying to kill Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, an American national and Khalistan activist, in New York, also in 2023?
Sikh protesters gather outside India’s consulate in Vancouver on October 18, 2024, following Canada’s expulsion of six Indian diplomats, including the high commissioner. The expulsions came after Canada linked Indian officials to the murder of a Sikh separatist leader and alleged a broader campaign targeting Indian dissidents on Canadian soil. | Photo Credit: REUTERS
Three other countries–the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand–part of the “Five Eyes” intelligence sharing network with Canada and the U.S.–also accept numerous Indian nationals. For both Indian students and immigrants, these five countries are major destinations of choice. Will these allegations and court proceedings lead to a hardening of attitudes towards Indians of all categories in these five countries?
It is ironical that India, which has made relations with these five countries the cornerstone of its foreign policy, stands accused of a campaign of killing and harassing separatists of Indian origin in two of these countries. The court proceedings in New York in the Pannun case are sure to keep the spotlight on the Indian role and could prove to be a greater headache for New Delhi.
Unlike the Canadians, who are trying to pressure India to take action by going public, the U.S. has engaged India in private dialogue, trying to extract maximum cooperation. By telling the U.S. that Vikash Yadav is no longer an employee of the government of India, New Delhi has tried to show its cooperation with Washington. Whether this is enough, of course, time alone will tell.
Though India is part of non-Western groups such as the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) and BRICS, the country’s foreign policy heart lies with Western nations like the Five Eyes. This change of heart has much to do with foreign policies pursued by successive Congress governments and not just BJP-led governments–a bipartisan consensus.
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Such an approach has much to do with large, vocal, and influential communities of Indian origin in these five countries. People of Indian origin play a role in the domestic politics of countries such as Canada, the U.K., and the U.S. especially, and this increasingly impacts bilateral ties with India.
While the truth in cases like those involving Nijjar or Pannun could prove to be national in nature, suspicions about the role of Indian government agencies in fomenting trouble abroad are only likely to grow.
In the latest cyber threat assessment released by Canada, India is classified as a “state adversary”, reflecting where the country stands today. “We assess that Indian state-sponsored cyber threat actors likely conduct cyber threat activity against Government of Canada networks for the purpose of espionage. We judge that official bilateral relations between Canada and India will very likely drive Indian state-sponsored cyber threat activity against Canada,” the Canadian Centre for Cyber Security said.
Quite a statement from a one-time friendly nation. In all likelihood, there will be more to follow.
Amit Baruah was The Hindu’s Islamabad-based Pakistan correspondent from 1997 to 2000. He is the author of Dateline Islamabad.
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