Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said the Indian government has made a “fundamental error” as he accused it of supporting a campaign of violence against Canadians on Canadian soil.
The prime minister spoke to reporters Monday, hours after the head of the RCMP laid out stunning allegations accusing agents of the Indian government of playing a role in “widespread violence” in Canada, including homicides, and warned that it poses “a serious threat to our public safety.”
Earlier in the day, Canada announced it’s expelling six Indian diplomats. India has denied the allegations and quickly retaliated, ordering six Canadian diplomats to leave the country within a week.
“I think it is obvious that the government of India made a fundamental error in thinking that they could engage in supporting criminal activity against Canadians, here on Canadian soil. Whether it be murders or extortion or other violent acts, it is absolutely unacceptable,” Trudeau said during a Thanksgiving Monday news conference.
“No country, particularly not a democracy that upholds the rule of law, can accept this fundamental violation of its sovereignty.”
The claims have heightened tensions in an already charged relationship, which deteriorated last year after Trudeau announced Canada had evidence linking Indian agents to the killing of Canadian Sikh separatist leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar. New Delhi has denied the allegation.
Monday’s explosive accusations allege a wider criminal campaign.
“The RCMP chose to come out today and disrupt the pattern of Indian diplomats collecting — through questionable and illegal means — information on Canadian citizens,” Trudeau said. That information was fed to criminal organizations that “would then take violent actions from extortion to murder,” he said.
Trudeau wouldn’t say much more about the alleged roles of the diplomats and consular staff, adding some of the cases are before the courts.
“As those trials unfold, much more will be known,” he said.
Agents working out of India’s high commission in Ottawa and consulates in Vancouver and Toronto were behind dozens of violent crimes across Canada that targeted opponents of the Modi government,Media has learned.
Although on paper they held diplomatic and consular positions, the Indian agents played key roles in a wave of shootings, killings, threats, arsons and extortions in Canada, according to senior sources familiar with the matter.
The victims were mostly supporters of the Khalistan movement, which seeks independence for India’s Sikh-majority Punjab region. But others were simply rivals of the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the sources said.
The Canadian government announced Monday it was expelling six Indian diplomats and consular officials “in relation to a targeted campaign against Canadian citizens by agents linked to the government of India.”
The government acted “to disrupt the chain of operations that go from Indian diplomats here in Canada to criminal organizations, to direct violent impacts on Canadians right across this country,” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said.