The Justin Trudeau-led government reached its  latest low point in a long-simmering diplomatic dispute between India and Canada by announcing on 14 October 2024 the expulsion of six Indian diplomats amid accusations that “Indian government agents were involved in activities that threaten the safety of Canadians”.

India-Canada relations nosedived after Ottawa said it was investigating a link between Indian government agents and the killing of a Canadian Sikh separatist leader, Hardeep Singh Nijjar, in a Vancouver suburb in June 2023.

Denying any involvement in Nijjar’s killing, India’s Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) responded with strong language referring to Canada’s complaint as “preposterous imputations” and announced it would withdraw its diplomats and other officials from the country.

Trudeau said on 14 October 2024 that the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) uncovered “clear and compelling evidence” that Indian government agents have engaged, and continue to engage, in activities that threaten public safety.

The MEA vehemently rejected Canada’s allegations, saying in a statement  that “on the pretext of an investigation, there is a deliberate strategy of smearing India for political gains”. It also said that the Canadian government “has not shared a shred of evidence” with the Indian government, “despite many requests from our side”. Later, the MEA said it had summoned Canada’s charge d’affaires in India to inform him that “the baseless targeting of the Indian High Commissioner and other diplomats and officials in Canada was completely unacceptable……We have no faith in the current Canadian Government’s commitment to ensure their security. Therefore, the Government of India has decided to withdraw the High Commissioner and other targeted diplomats and officials,” it said, adding that New Delhi “reserves the right to take further steps” in response.

Genesis of Khalistan movement

While the term "Khalistan" was first coined in March 1940 by Dr Vir Singh Bhatti in a pamphlet titled 'Khalistan' which made the case for a separate Sikh homeland in response to the Muslim League's Lahore Resolution, it was Jagjit Singh Chauhan, who is reported to be the founder of the Khalistan movement seeking to create an independent Sikh state out of Indian Punjab in the 1980s. Chauhan also reportedly claimed that during his talks with then Pakistan prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, the latter affirmed his support for the Khalistan movement in retaliation for the severing of East Pakistan, which  became Bangladesh, with Indian help. 

Khalistani terrorism started in Punjab in the early 1980s with several armed groups including Babbar Khalsa and Khalistan Commando Force. Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, the head of a seminary named Damdami Taksal, gained prominence after speaking passionately in favour of a fundamentalist vision of Sikhism “against Hindu dominance”. To an extent, Bhindranwale’s rise from religious leader to a political force was owing to support of former former minister Indira Gandhi’s younger son Sanjay Gandhi, Indira Gandhi herself and especially President Zail Singh, a former Punjab chief minister, who wished to use Bhindranwale to break the hold of the Shiromani Akali Dal in Punjab.

Op Blue Star and aftermath

On 31 May 1984, Maj. Gen. (later Lt. Gen. and retired) K.S. Brar was asked to launch Operation Blue Star, a military operation to evict Bhindranwale and a posse of well-armed terrorists who were holed inside Harmandir Sahib, the Golden Temple. The situation necessitated an assault on the holiest of Sikh shrines as the strategically positioned terrorists within the Temple were able to effectively target the Indian Army soldiers. At the end of eight days of fighting, Bhindranwale and many other terrorists were found dead in the basement of the Akal Takht, inside the temple complex but outside the sanctum sanctorum. Among the damages to the complex, aside from the Akal Takht, there were bullet holes in the Golden Temple, and an important Sikh library with all its historic books and other material was destroyed by fire. The Indian Army reported four of its officers, 79 other ranks and 554 terrorists and innocent civilians killed.

Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was assassinated at 9:30 a.m. on 31 October 1984 at her official residence in New Delhi by her two Sikh bodyguards, Satwant Singh and Beant Singh, In the anti-Sikh riots that erupted in anger just a day later,and allegedly instigated politically, more than 3,000 Sikhs in Delhi and an estimated 8,000 across India were killed.

In 1986, Khalistan Commando Force took responsibility for the assassination of former Army Chief, General Arun Vaidya settled in Pune after his retirement in retaliation for 1984's Operation Blue Star. By 1992, the Khalistani terrorist campaign was brought to an end by firm action of the Army and the Punjab Police. But in the years dominated by Khalistani terrorism many political leaders, police and government officers and innocent people were killed. As late as in August 1996, Punjab Chief Minister Beant Singh was killed in a terrorist bombing. 

Resurgence in Canada 

While Khalistani terrorism ended in Punjab in 1992, there were Khalistanis amidst the large Sikh diaspora in Canada, UK, US and Australia who continued with anti-India activities, covertly and later overtly, to maintain the momentum of the anti-India narrative. None of these countries mentioned took any steps to check any undesirable or violent or anti-India activities from their soil. 

Canada over the years turned out to be the most hospitable to the separatists of the four. In the UK, Lt Gen K.S. Brar,  who was on a holiday with his wife in London many years after his retirement, was attacked on October 1 2012 near Hyde Park by suspected Khalistani extremists.  As he grappled with the attackers, one of them slashed his neck with a knife and when some people arrived hearing his wife’s shouts, the attackers ran away.  Gen Brar was fortunate to have recovered after surgery in hospital.

On 23 June 1985, a Boeing 747 aircraft of Air India Flight 182,  on the Montréal-London-Delhi-Bombay route was blown up by a bomb mid-air off the coast of Ireland. Of the 329 people aboard killed, there were 268 Canadian, most of them Indo-Canadians, 27 British and 24 Indian citizens, including the flight crew. On the same day, an explosion from a luggage bomb occurred at the Narita Airport in Tokyo, Japan, intended for Air India Flight 301, killing two baggage handlers. The main suspects in the bombing were members of the Babbar Khalsa and other related groups. In September 2007, the Canadian Commission of Inquiry initially disclosed that a hitherto unnamed person, Lakhbir Singh Rode, had masterminded the explosions. However, later in two separate inquiries it officially determined that the mastermind behind the terrorist operation was in fact a Canadian named Talwinder Singh Parmar. Several men were arrested and tried for the Air India bombing. Inderjit Singh Reyat, a Canadian national and member of the International Sikh Youth Federation who pleaded guilty in 2003 to manslaughter, was sentenced to fifteen years in prison for assembling the bombs that exploded on board Air India Flight 182 at Narita Airport. Two more arrested and later acquitted were Ripudaman Singh Malik and Ajaib Singh Bagri. The entire trial costing lasted 20 years.

Patronage of Trudeau father-son

Khalistanism is reported to have begun in Canada in the 1960s when Sikhs began migrating there. Justin Trudeau’s father, Pierre Trudeau, who was the 15th prime minister of Canada from 1968 to 1979 and from 1980 to 1984, was reportedly quite partial to the Sikh separatist movement as it took root in Canada. It was in fact just after the end of his second tenure in 1984 that the hijacking was done in 1985. And during his son's tenure that the Khalistanis made major progress in their violent anti-Indian activities.

According to Oneindia, dated 16 October 2024, Trudeau's office has been in contact with the banned group Sikhs for Justice (SFJ) for the past two to three years. This was revealed by SFJ leader Gurpatwant Singh Pannun during an interview with CBC News, a Canadian news channel. Pannun's statement supports India's claims that Canada has been nurturing Khalistani separatists and using them against India. SFJ a banned organization in India with links reported to Trudeau's office has raised concerns and intensified the ongoing tension between India and Canada. The involvement of a banned group in political matters is alarming for both nations. India has long accused Canada of supporting Khalistani elements/gangs. This new information adds weight to those accusations.

On 17 October 2024, MEA reportedly informed that there are 26 extradition requests from India to Canada and security information about gangs, including the Lawrence Bishnoi gang disclosed but no action has been taken on either by Canada so far.

Trudeau, whose closeness to Canadian Khalistanis is amply borne out by photographs on the internet and his interactions in public, has obviously not given any thought about risks to Canada’s future from the activities of the Khalistanis. With all the freedom that the Khalistanis are enjoying in Canada and the way they are being pandered to by Trudeau, the possibility of them actually establishing a separate Khalistani "homeland" inside Canada cannot be ruled out. And not only Canada but also other countries allowing Khalistanis to continue their anti-India activities in the guise of freedom of expression like the UK, the US, Australia and even New Zealand, will be well advised to do some serious investigation/research on their nefarious activities before it blows up in their own faces besides damanging ties with a friendly country which is also a strategic partner. 

(The author, a strategic affairs analyst, is a former spokesperson, Defence Ministry and Indian Army, can be contacted at wordsword02@gmail.com )