India brands Canada a safe haven for terrorists and 'anti-India activities'
Canada is the one that 'needs to worry about its international reputation,' says Ministry of External Affairs
Amid a widening diplomatic rift between Canada and India linked to the killing of a Canadian Sikh leader this summer, a spokesperson for India's External Affairs Ministry called Canada a "safe haven" — for terrorists, extremists and "anti-India activities" — seven times during the 45 minutes he took questions on the topic Thursday.
Those and other comments of the past few days have underlined how the Indian government seems to view Canada: A country that for years has given free rein to the more extremist elements of the Khalistani movement for an independent Sikh state.
That view is only intensifying as the ire over Canada accusing Indian agents of involvement in the shooting death this June of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a Sikh leader and Canadian citizen, deepens across India's political sphere.
India has flatly rejected the allegations, calling them absurd and politically motivated.
Canada says the allegations are "credible" and that Ottawa is not looking to provoke India by revealing them.
"If we're talking about reputational damage, if there is one country that needs to look at this, I think it is Canada and its growing reputation as a safe haven for terrorists, for extremists and for organized crime," said Arindam Bagchi, spokesperson for India's Ministry of External Affairs.
"I think that's the country that needs to worry about its international reputation."
Visa services suspended
India abruptly suspended its visa operations in Canada on Thursday, with Bagchi saying the decision was necessary because of unspecified "security threats" that have disrupted the normal functioning of India's High Commission and consulates in Canada.
Bagchi also called out Canadian authorities for not addressing India's "very significant concerns about terrorism, about security of diplomats, of the Indian community and the overall anti-India activities that are being … given a safe haven in Canada."
At the heart of the issue is Khalistan, a movement whose goal is to carve out an independent Sikh nation in the northern Indian state of Punjab. It has been a sore point in the relations between India and Canada for decades.
Nijjar, whom Indian authorities designated a terrorist and has been a wanted man in India for years, was working to organize an unofficial referendum on independence among the Sikh diaspora, when he was gunned down by two masked men outside a Sikh temple in Surrey, B.C., on June 18.
Media calls out Trudeau's 'vote-bank politics'
India has long been critical of what it sees as Canada's inaction in the face of the Khalistan movement.
In India's boisterous TV news landscape, the words "safe haven" have already come up repeatedly this week, in the days since Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau first publicly – and briefly – made the allegations in the House of Commons on Monday.
Some Indian news anchors have accused Trudeau of playing "vote-bank politics" and courting Sikh votes.
For his part, Trudeau urged India to co-operate with Canada to investigate Nijjar's death and reiterated that there were "credible reasons to believe that agents of the government of India were involved in the killing of a Canadian on Canadian soil."
"We call on the government of India to work with us, to take seriously these allegations and to allow justice to follow its course," he said from New York, where he was attending the UN General Assembly and climate summit this week.
But to date, the condemnation of Trudeau in India has been near-universal, as has been the criticism of Canada for coming out publicly with what some newspapers have called "a sketchy allegation" without providing further evidence or information.
Bagchi reiterated that in his briefing Thursday.
"Let me clarify: No specific information has been shared by Canada on this case, either then or before or after," he said forcefully.
"We conveyed this to the Canadian side and made it clear to them that we are willing to look at specific information that is provided to us."
He then alleged that India has, by contrast, regularly provided information on specific individuals committing "criminal activities" on Canadian soil, suggesting that it has requested extradition for 20 to 25 people but that Canadian authorities had not acted on such requests.
Some commentators have echoed the call for more evidence.
"Making an allegation at this stage was not just unusual but imprudent in my view," Brahma Chellaney, with the Centre for Policy Research in New Delhi, told CBC News earlier this week.
Another India analyst called Trudeau's allegation "extremely immature" and irresponsible.
"You do not accuse another country of assassination until you have moved from credible allegations to credible evidence," said Ajai Sanhi, executive director of the Institute for Conflict Management and the South Asia Terrorism Portal in New Delhi, in reaction to Trudeau's original statement.
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With files from the Associated Press