Canada Claims Indian Home Minister Shah Behind Plot Against Sikh Separatists
Canadian officials are serious when they accuse India’s Home Minister Amit Shah of orchestrating plots against Sikh separatists in Canada. The one published by The Washington Post in early October was confirmed by Morrison at a hearing on a parliamentary committee on Tuesday, which also pointed to a shift to a new level of hostility between Ottawa and Beijing.
Some media said that the Canadian authorities provided information about Shah’s involvement up to about October 2023 and while the Indian officials joked about it referring to it as ‘lame and vague’ they did not deny it either, insiders explained. The claims have raised tensions Canada Claims Indian Home Minister Shah Behind Plot Against Sikh Separatistsbetween the two nations following the Canadian government’s prior demand that India, eject its envoys, over the 2023 brutal killing of Sikh separatist leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar.
India has always refuted Canada’s claims as baseless while supporting its stance against what it considers anti-state ‘terrorists’. The Indian government has responded to such actions by their diplomatic expulsions escalating the divide between the two countries.
Background to Sikh Separatism
The Khalistan desire has been an especially sensitive issue as the Sikh movement for the independent homeland occurred during the insurgency in the 1980s and 1990s that cost thousands of lives in and around India. The period also saw severe communal tension, especially in 1984 when the killing of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi led to the genocide against Sikhs which saw the attack on their holiest place of worship – the Amritsar’s Golden Temple.
The recent tensions have brought some new light to this historical enmity, both countries are asserting their concrete stances on the issue. India still considers Sikh separatists as having security risks while Canada stays focused to guard its occupants within territory.
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