Canada accuses India’s Amit Shah of campaign against Sikh separatists

Ottawa says a close ally of India’s prime minister is engaged in a campaign of intimidation against Sikh separatists on Canadian soil. Indian sources call the allegations “sleazy.”

Canada has accused Indian Home Minister Amit Shah of waging a campaign of violence and intimidation against Sikh activists, a move that could prolong the recent diplomatic spat between Ottawa and New Delhi.

Deputy Foreign Secretary David Morrison confirmed to members of the National Security Committee on Tuesday that the government views Shah – considered India’s second-highest leader and a close ally of Prime Minister Narendra Modi – as the architect of the campaign against Sikh separatists in Canada, which included the assassination of an activist.

India has not yet responded, but on Wednesday the Reuters news agency reported that government officials rejected the accusations.

Morrison told committee members that he confirmed Shah’s name to the Washington Post, which had previously reported the allegations.

“The journalist called me and asked if this was the person. I confirmed it was that person,” Morrison told the committee. He did not reveal the evidence behind Canada’s allegations.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau previously said Canada had credible evidence that Indian government agents were involved in the June 2023 murder of Canadian Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar in British Columbia.

The assassination and aftermath caused a diplomatic row between the two countries.

Canada expelled Indian diplomats it linked to a campaign it said targeted Sikhs. India responded with its own expulsion of Canadian officials.

The United States also charged former Indian intelligence officer Vikash Yadav with allegedly masterminding a foiled plot to assassinate Sikh separatist leader Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, a dual U.S.-Canadian citizen and Indian critic in New York.

Nathalie Drouin, Trudeau’s national security adviser, told the security committee on Tuesday that Canada had evidence that the Indian government was collecting information about Indian citizens and Canadian citizens in Canada through diplomatic channels and through proxies.

‘Weak’

Canadian authorities have said in the past that they shared evidence with India, but officials in New Delhi have repeatedly denied this and called the allegations absurd.

India did not immediately comment on the accusation against the Shah. However, Reuters quoted unnamed government sources as saying New Delhi considered Canada’s evidence to be “very weak” and “tenuous” and did not expect it to cause any trouble for the influential interior minister.

The Modi government has called Sikh separatists “terrorists” and a threat to its security. Activists are demanding that an independent homeland, known as Khalistan, be carved out of India.

In the 1980s and 1990s, tens of thousands of people died as a result of armed rebellion. In 1984, thousands of people died in anti-Sikh riots after the assassination of then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi by her Sikh bodyguards after she ordered security forces to storm the holiest Sikh temple to drive out Sikh separatists.