On May 3, 2024, the Canadian police announced that three Indian nationals had been arrested for their involvement in the June killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a Canadian citizen and Sikh separatist leader in British Columbia. Nijjar was shot dead by masked gunmen outside of a Sikh gurdwara in Surrey, British Columbia on June 18, 2023. Nijjar had been designated as a “terrorist” by the Indian government (allegations which he denied) due to his involvement in the Khalistan movement, a separatist movement to create a sovereign Sikh homeland. In September 2023, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced that “credible allegations of a potential link” between Indian government agents and Nijjar’s killing were being investigated by authorities. The Indian government dismissed the allegations as “absurd,” and in October, Canada removed 41 of its 62 diplomats in India. The heightened tensions and diplomatic row following Nijjar’s killing are reflective of a longer history of conflict between Canada and India over Sikh separatism and concern regarding India’s involvement in plots to harm Sikh leaders the United States and Canada. 

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (R.C.M.P.) named the three men arrested as Karanpreet Singh, 28, Kamalpreet Singh, 22, and Karan Brar, 22. “We’re investigating their ties, if any, to the Indian government,” Mandeep Mooker, an R.C.M.P. superintendent, said to a news conference. Speaking to Al Jazeera, Mohinder Singh, a spokesman for the British Columbia Gurdwaras Council, expressed “some relief” regarding the arrests. However, Singh emphasized the importance of continuing to investigate India’s involvement in Nijjar’s killing. “The foreign interference is real. The assassination plot is real,” said Singh. “All of that has to be exposed,” he continued. “There [are] numerous reasons why it’s very, very important for public safety in Canada, along with deterring India from carrying out this kind of operation ever again.”

The Khalistan movement, a campaign for an independent Sikh country in India’s Punjab region, gained support in India during the 1970s and 80s. The armed movement ended following a brutal crackdown by the Indian government, which left thousands dead, including many Sikh leaders. While the Khalistan movement has little political power within India, it enjoys some support from diasporic Sikh communities in Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, and the United States. Canada is home to the largest Sikh population, about 770,000 people, outside of India. Canada’s unwillingness to crack down on Sikh activists has been a point of frustration with the Indian government. In September 2023, India’s Ministry of External Affairs accused Canada of sheltering “Khalistani terrorists and extremists” who “continue to threaten India’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.” In an interim report released by the head of a Canadian public inquiry into foreign interference in late April 2024, Commissioner Marie-Josee Hogue stated that India “does not differentiate between lawful, pro-Khalistani political advocacy and the relatively small Canada-based Khalistani violent extremism” and “views anyone aligned with Khalistani separatism as a seditious threat to India.” 

Beyond Canada, concerns regarding India’s foreign interference have been expressed by the United States and international human rights groups. In April, the White House stated that it viewed the reports of the Indian intelligence service’s role in two assassination plots in the United States and Canada as a serious matter. In a December 2023 report, the Human Rights Watch pointed out that the rise in allegations of India’s foreign interference accompanies human rights violations against activists within India. The Bharatiya Janata Party government has conducted raids and arbitrary arrests through the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act, a draconian counterterrorism law, in order to silence criticism of the government. The report also detailed the lack of accountability of Indian police and military personnel despite accusations of torture and extrajudicial killings, as well as an absence of independent supervision of intelligence agents. The domestic and transnational repression of dissenting voices is unacceptable. It is crucial that India conducts impartial investigations regarding the serious allegations of its government’s involvement in assassination plots, extrajudicial killings, and foreign interference abroad in order to address violations of international and human rights laws. “The Indian government needs to do a lot more than issue denials in response to alleged involvement in grave abuses both at home and abroad,” said Elaine Pearson, Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “The authorities need to stop silencing critics and allowing security forces to commit violations with impunity.”