For the past few weeks , Canada And India are at each others throat because the Canadian PM standing in his parliament accused the Indian Government of killing a Canadian citizen using “secrect agents” .
But the issue is not as simple as it looks, today we’re going to take a closer look at the strife created between the two countries.
A little over a month ago, Canada and India were still negotiating a bi-lateral deal that would increase trade and expand investment between the two countries.
Now those talks have halted, India has ordered Canada to remove most of its diplomats from the country.
The origin of this growing tension goes as far back as the 1940s, owing to the Khalistan movement and while relations between Canada and India are generally friendly and productive, a handful of events in the last 75 years have caused tensions to increase periodically.
- The Killing of HARDEEP SINGH NIJJAR
Last month, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said there were “credible allegations” of Indian involvement in the murder of Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar, who was gunned down outside a Sikh temple in Surrey, B.C.
For years, India has said Nijjar, a Canadian citizen born in India, had links to terrorism. Nijjar was a prominent member of a political movement to create an independent Sikh homeland known as Khalistan, but denied having any links to terrorists. At the time of his murder, he was working with the group Sikhs for Justice to organize an unofficial referendum among the Sikh diaspora.
The Indian government denied any involvement in Nijjar’s murder and the two countries have since traded diplomatic barbs, most recently in India demanding Canada to reduce its diplomatic presence there.
- THE KHALISTAN MOVEMENT
Canada’s friendliness or lack of hostility towards Sikh separatist activists has been a sore point for India for decades.
Sikh separatists associated with the Khalistan movement first began moving to Canada in large numbers after the partition of India and Pakistan in 1947. When the two countries were separated, the Punjab region, which is home to most of the world’s Sikhs, was split into the Indian state of Punjab and the Pakistani province of Punjab.
While Sikhs form the majority of people living in Punjab, they form only two per cent of India’s population of 1.4 billion. The modern movement to create a sovereign Sikh homeland called “Khalistan” out of the state of Punjab emerged from negotiations preceding the partition, though Khalistan has never been recognized by the Indian government, which considers the movement a national threat.
“With the separatist movement came a lot of violence, and then with the violence, a lot of people left India. “And so since then, Canada has been a land of welcome for Sikh separatists historically.”
Canada has never “strongly condemned” the Khalistan movement, and since much of the movement’s strength comes from the efforts of the Sikh diaspora in countries around the world, the Indian government views Canada as accepting, if not outright supporting, the movement.
The Khalistan movement is still active today. Organizers of an unofficial worldwide referendum on Punjabi independence conducted the first stage of a series of non-binding votes in British Columbia last month, attracting more than 135,000 voters. Nijjar had been one of those organizers before his death.
- WHAT’S NEXT AND WHAT’S AT STAKE
Despite episodes of tension over the years, Canada and India have managed to maintain a healthy relationship with strong people to people relations and shared commercial interests.
“India is Canada’s ninth largest trading partner,”. “There’s a lot of Canadian companies in India and new talks are enmerging in he investment areas . The only issue being canada’s softness in view of freedom of expression regarding Khalistan issue.
If the stalled trade deal with India falls apart altogether, Canada would lose more ground than India. The deal is considered key to Canada’s Indo-Pacific strategy, which would see the country strengthen its trade ties with 40 countries and economies in the Indo-Pacific region.
Because of this, Canada needs India more than India needs Canada, and the Indian government’s decision to expel 41 Canadian diplomats shows it knows that.
In order for Canada to save face in this conflict, Canadian intelligence must provide credible, compelling evidence that Nijjar’s killing originated with the Indian government or India’s foreign intelligence agency.
If it fails to do so, Canada’s credibility will take a major hit and diplomatic relations between the two countries would be severed entirely.
