Relations between Canada and India continue to sour after days of back-and-forth diplomatic digs that featured accusations and subsequent denials over the death of a Sikh separatist leader in June.
criticized Canada, claiming it was a"safe haven for terrorists, for extremists, and for organized crime."In 1947, when India gained independence from British rule, it was split into two nations: India and Pakistan. The partition was drawn along religious lines, with the state of Punjab divided between both India and Pakistan. Going back as far as then, Sikhs — a religious minority in the majority Hindu country — have called for a sovereign state. And in the state of Punjab,.
Tensions between Sikhs and the Indian government reached an all-time high in the 1980s, when the separatist Sikh movement turned violent. Then-Prime Minister Indira Gandhi condemned the campaign, seeing it as a direct threat to India. Government forces descended on the Golden Temple — the holiest shrine in the Sikh faith — and killed those involved in the campaign. In retaliation, Gandhi's two Sikh bodyguards assassinated her.
state remains a main priority for the Sikh diaspora community around the world. A recent revival of the movement abroad has caused concern about whether it will mean a return of violence in India. It is also worth noting that India's Punjab state is where a high volume of wheat is grown and so is a financially significant region.On June 18, Canadian citizen Hardeep Singh Nijjar was shot dead outside of a Sikh temple in Surrey, British Columbia.
Nijjar was labeled a terrorist in India and was wanted after authorities accused him of being involved in the death of a Hindu priest — charges he had profusely denied. At the time of his death, it was reported that the Sikh leader had been organizing an unofficial referendum in India regarding the formation of Khalistan.
Following Trudeau's accusations on Monday, Nijjar's son Balraj Singh Nijjar told CBC that the statement hadNijjar is the third Sikh leader promoting the separatist movement to have been killed this year.
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