Amid escalating tension with Canada, India's envoy accuses nation of harboring Khalistani extremists as ‘deep assets’ of CSIS

Sanjay Kumar Verma, the Indian envoy, claimed that terrorists and Khalistani extremists are "deep assets" of the Canada Security Intelligence Service (CSIS). Canada summoned Verma back after declaring senior diplomats as "persons of interest" in the investigation into Hardeep Singh Nijjar's murder.

Verma said in an interview with a Canadian news agency that the Justin Trudeau government always supported radical Khalistanists.

"This is my allegation; I also know that some of these Khalistani extremists and terrorists are deep assets of CSIS; again, I'm not giving any evidence," he added.

The government of Justin Trudeau has claimed that Nijjar, a Khalistani separatist, was killed by Indian agents. India slammed the Canadian government and called the accusation baseless and self-serving.

India has also been putting pressure on the Canadian authorities to back up their accusations with credible evidence. During a hearing last week, Prime Minister Trudeau of Canada said intelligence, not concrete proof, was the base for the government's claims.

Envoy Verma urged the Canadian government to comprehend India's core issues.

"We only want the Canadian regime of the day, the government of the day, to understand my core concerns sincerely rather than being bedfellows with those who are trying to challenge Indian sovereignty and territorial integrity," said Verma.

According to him, Khalistani extremists are Canadian citizens who oppose another country's sovereignty.

"What happens in India will be decided by Indian citizens. These Khalistani extremists are not Indian citizens; they are Canadian citizens, and no country should allow its citizens to challenge the sovereignty of another nation," he added.

Verma denied all charges leveled against him by Canada on Nijjar's murder. "No evidence presented. Politically motivated," he added.

He refuted claims that he forced or directed people to obtain information regarding pro-Khalistani supporters, such as Nijjar.

"I, as High Commissioner of India, had never done anything of that kind," said the diplomat.

He clarified that his team uses open sources to obtain information in order to monitor pro-Khalistani elements in Canada, which is a matter of national interest.

"We read the newspapers; we read their statements since we understand Punjabi, so we read their social media posts and try to infer from there," Verma said.

India's relations with Canada reached an all-time low when the Trudeau government announced that it was looking into a possible connection between Indian government agents and the death of Sikh leader Nijjar on Canada's west coast and informed New Delhi that its diplomats were potential suspects in the Nijjar murder.

Prime Minister Trudeau has revealed that the federal RCMP has found "clear and compelling evidence" that Indian government agents had participated in, and are still participating in, acts that endanger public safety, which has only made the situation worse.

Last week, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made public claims that Indian officials were targeting Sikh separatists in Canada by providing intelligence about them to their government.

They further claimed that high-ranking Indian authorities were then providing Indian organized criminal groups with this information, and the groups were using it to target the Canadian-born campaigners.

The Ministry of External Affairs has continuously mocked the claims that it was involved in Nijjar's murder, saying once more that it "strongly" rejects the "preposterous imputations" made by Canada and that its diplomats and other officials must leave the nation.

In July 2020, Nijjar was labeled a "terrorist" by India due to his desire for an independent Khalistani state as a Sikh homeland.

India has clearly said that it was not involved in his death and has challenged Canada to provide proof to support this assertion.

Previously, India issued an order for Stewart Wheeler, the acting high commissioner of Ottawa, along with his deputy and four first secretaries, to depart from the country by midnight on Oct 13.

On Oct 14, Canada expelled six Indian diplomats, including the high commissioner, accusing them of being part of a larger plot to attack Indian dissidents in Canada and connecting them to the death of Sikh separatist leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar.

The MEA sharply said the charges were attributable to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's vote-bank politics and political agenda.

On June 18, 2023, Nijjar, a 45-year-old Canadian citizen, was killed outside the Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara in Surrey, British Columbia.

The assassination of Nijjar last year set off a major political dispute between Canada and India when Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau claimed that "Indian agents" were involved in the crime. The accusation was dismissed by India as "absurd" and "motivated."