India furious as diplomats declared ‘persons of interest’ in Canada probe

New Delhi says it rejects the ‘preposterous imputations’, alleging the claims are part of Canadian PM Trudeau’s ‘political agenda’.

New Delhi is furious over Canada declaring India’s ambassador to Ottawa and other Indian diplomats as “persons of interest” in a matter related to an investigation, calling the move “preposterous” and part of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s “vote bank politics”.

India-Canada relations have been tense since September 2023 when Trudeau said Canada had credible evidence to link Indian agents to the assassination of Sikh separatist leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar on Canadian soil that year.

Nijjar supported a Sikh homeland in the form of an independent Khalistani state and was designated by India as a “terrorist” in July 2020.

But New Delhi has repeatedly denied the allegation that its agents killed him, challenging Canada to share evidence to back its claim.

In a statement on Monday, the Indian Ministry of External Affairs said it “strongly rejects these preposterous imputations and ascribes them to the political agenda of the Trudeau Government” and said Canada has not provided any proof “despite many requests from our side”.

“This latest step follows interactions that have again witnessed assertions without any facts. This leaves little doubt that on the pretext of an investigation, there is a deliberate strategy of smearing India for political gains,” the statement added.

“India now reserves the right to take further steps in response to these latest efforts of the Canadian Government to concoct allegations against Indian diplomats,” said the statement.

New Delhi also alleged the Trudeau government “has consciously provided space to violent extremists and terrorists to harass, threaten and intimidate Indian diplomats and community leaders in Canada”.

Canada pulled out more than 40 diplomats from India in October 2023 after New Delhi asked Ottawa to reduce its diplomatic presence.

In June this year, a committee of Canadian parliamentarians named India and China as the main foreign threats to its democratic institutions, based on input from intelligence agencies.

India’s envoy in Ottawa, Sanjay Kumar Verma, called the report politically motivated and influenced by Sikh separatist campaigners.

Earlier this year, Trudeau said he hoped India would “engage with us so that we can get to the bottom of this very serious matter”.

Soon after Canada’s allegation, the United States claimed that Indian agents were involved in an attempted assassination plot of another Sikh separatist leader in New York in 2023, and said it had indicted an Indian national who was working at the behest of an unnamed Indian government official.

The assassination plots against Sikh separatist leaders in Canada and the US have tested their relationship with India, as the Western nations hope to forge deeper ties with New Delhi to counter China’s rising global influence.

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Al Jazeera and news agencies