Is diplomacy possible after murder?
India’s intelligence services’ alleged killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar has resulted in a major diplomatic crisis between Delhi and Ottawa — but de-escalation is a challenge.
By Pallawi Anand and Ian Lupton
On 18 June 2023, Hardeep Singh Nijjar was shot and killed outside a Sikh temple in the Vancouver suburb of Surrey, British Columbia. A Canadian citizen born in India, Nijjar was a Sikh separatist advocating for the creation of a separate Sikh homeland in the Punjab state of India. No arrests have been made relating to his death.
Three months later, Justin Trudeau stood on the floor of the House of Commons and notified Parliament of "credible allegations of a potential link between agents of the government of India and the killing” of Nijjar. Canada’s Prime Minister stated bluntly that "any involvement of a foreign government in the killing of a Canadian citizen on Canadian soil is an unacceptable violation of our sovereignty."
There have already been numerous consequences – diplomats have been recalled; Indian nationals have been advised to avoid travel; Canadian visas to India have been restricted; and trade pacts are in jeopardy.
Long-simmering Indo-Canadian tensions have boiled over – and the Indo-Canadian relationship has already been strained for many years over the issue of Canadian Sikh support for Khalistan.
What is Khalistan?
The Khalistan separatist movement began in India in the 1940s towards the end of British rule. Khalistan supporters seek to create a separate homeland in the state of Punjab for Sikhs, a minority group in India comprising less than 2% of India’s 1.4 billion people. At the height of conflict in the 1980s, the Indian army conducted a military operation, known as Blue Star, to remove a Sikh militant and other Sikh separatists from the Golden Temple, the most spiritually significant shrine in Sikhism.
This operation led to the assassination of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in 1984 by her two Sikh bodyguards. Subsequent violent anti-Sikh riots in the country resulted in hundreds of deaths, and tensions between the Indian government and Khalistan supporters persisted. Though there is no active insurgency in Punjab today, the Khalistan movement has support in India and diaspora communities, especially in Canada where a sizeable part of the Sikh global population lives.
Who was Nijjar?
Born in Punjab, India, Nijjar arrived in Canada in 1997 using a fake name and passport and claiming refugee status. He was a consistent, fervent supporter of a Khalistan state, and had long been under surveillance and suspicion by the Indian government for pro-Khalistan sentiments and activities. At the Indian government's request, two Interpol red notices requesting the help of foreign governments to locate, arrest, and extradite Nijjar were issued in 2014 and 2016. In 2016, the Indian government also advised Canada that Nijjar was wanted on suspicion of involvement in the bombing of an Indian movie theatre in 2007. He was briefly questioned by Canadian police and released. India named Nijjar a terrorist in 2020.
Canada-Indian Relations
The Indian government has made repeated requests to Canada to do more to combat Sikh extremism, including issuing warnings about perceived problematic speech, as well as to undertake surveillance activities. Canada views peaceful protests as protected freedom of expression, which does not align with India’s view that protestors are engaging in anti-state/terrorist activity.
Challenges Posed to Canada
The killing, and the subsequent accusation of Indian government involvement, have created several problems for the government of Canada.
Domestically, Nijjar was a citizen of Canada and, as such, was entitled to exercise his constitutional rights to freedom of expression. However, India was adamant that his activities amounted to providing support to terrorist groups and plotting attacks. But either way, a foreign state-sponsored assassination would violate the bedrock principles of territorial sovereignty, the rules-based international order as well as international convention.
Despite calls from the opposition and the public, the Canadian government has been understandably reluctant to release the intelligence on the file, because it could divulge tradecraft and intelligence-gathering methods, and even put lives at risk. Nevertheless, the Prime Minister cannot un-ring the bell he rang so publicly on September 18.
Internationally, India’s recent rise as a global power and its potential as a bulwark against China’s increasing assertiveness has prompted the West, led by the US, to strengthen strategic and economic relations with Delhi. As a result, Canada’s allies have been notably quiet in their public comments on Trudeau’s declaration, even as the US is believed to have contributed to intelligence-gathering that implicated India’s involvement in the killing. Allies are in the difficult position of trying to balance their efforts to strengthen a critical relationship with India, while holding accountable any country that violates territorial sovereignty and international conventions.
Canada also has its own relationship to manage with India. India's large and rapidly growing economy presents significant trade and investment opportunities for Canada. It is Canada’s tenth largest trading partner, with $13.7B of bilateral trade in 2022. By contrast, Canada is India’s 30th largest trading partner. As outlined in Canada’s Indo-Pacific strategy, the Indo-Pacific is home to over four billion people and $47 trillion in economic activity across 40 economies, and it will play a critical role in shaping developments worldwide over the next half-century.
However, the diplomatic dispute has suspended negotiations for an Early Progress Trade Agreement (EPTA), which was at the heart of both countries’ efforts to deepen their commercial relationship. Canada must tread carefully – as the smaller player, it has more to lose. As Shawn Barber, a former Canadian foreign service officer and ambassador, has stated, “if the current crisis in bilateral relations between Canada and India is allowed to escalate there is bound to be only one loser. It will not be India.”
The Indian diaspora and international students are essential to maintaining Canada’s relationship with India. Canada is home to nearly 1.4 million people of Indian origin, making up about 3.7% of the nation’s total population. According to Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, 40% of the 800,000 international students in Canada are from India, providing significant economic benefits to Canada. The Indian diaspora also has an important and growing influence on the bilateral relationship.
To add to it, members of the Sikh diaspora are essential for maintaining support for Justin Trudeau's Liberal Party. Significant numbers of Canadian Sikhs live in vote-rich ridings of the Greater Toronto and Vancouver metro areas, including Ontario federal ridings of Brampton Centre, East, North, South and West, and British Columbia Lower Mainland ridings of Stevenson-Richmond East, Surrey Centre, and Surrey Newton.
Looking Ahead
Both countries appear to have tempered their rhetoric over the last week, but tensions remain high – India kicked out 41 Canadian diplomats this past week. The U.S., UK, and other partners will not completely abandon Canada, but neither will they want to publicly call out India and risk their interests in the region. Allies will encourage both countries to pursue quiet diplomacy, focusing on shared economic and security interests and values. The countries, despite their differences, have strong ties and a firm foundation on which to re-establish mutual-cooperation and co-existence.
De-escalation will be difficult, but not impossible. But agreeing on the differences between freedom of expression and threats to sovereignty is a crucial first step.
Pallawi Anand is from India and it is her first time in Canada. Pallawi has a 6+ years of work experience & expertise in Indirect Tax Administration and Tax System implementation in the Department of Revenue, Ministry of Finance, Government of India. She has worked in variety of fields like Goods and Service Tax, Indian Customs department where she worked in collaboration with different stakeholders and implementation of laws originating from WTO. Pallawi is interested in learning different strategies to effectively create policy in areas of global governance.
Ian is a dual Canadian/US citizen originally from Vancouver, British Columbia and has lived, studied and worked in both Canada and the United States. Ian has diverse public sector experience working in legislative, provincial and municipal governments and has a broad range of interests including housing, the design and use of public space, and strategic communications.