India-Canada news Highlights: Canadian Sikh group calls for protests outside Indian diplomatic missions

Jatinder Singh Grewal, a director for Sikh for Justice in Canada, told Reuters on Sunday that his organization will lead the demonstrations outside the Indian embassies and consulates in Toronto, Ottawa and Vancouver to increase public awareness about Nijjar's killing.

"We are asking Canada to expel the India ambassador," Grewal said.

The Punjab Police conducted raids at 48 places linked to close associates of Canada-based terrorist Lakhbir Singh Landa alias Landa Harike. The development comes after a trader was attacked by two assailants on September 21.

“We received and believe we have very credible intelligence that causes us to be deeply concerned and the RCMP (Royal Canadian Mounted Police) have now initiated an investigation. One of the things I need to be very careful about is not confirming or identifying either the sources of any information we're acting on or the evidence or the type of evidence that forms part of that investigation, because the outcome of that investigation is critically important to Canada. It's also important to our allies in the world...,” Blair said in an interview with CBC News on Sunday.

“I am concerned about the measures that they're taking because we have a very significant (and) important Indo-Canadian population in this country, people who are connected to family and through business and other relationships to India,” he told CBC News on Sunday.

He also stressed the need to investigate the killing and move from credible intelligence to evidence.

“So that we and the Indian government can know the truth and have the facts and then we can work together to resolve it in an appropriate way. And the only request we have made of our allies in India is that they cooperate fully in that investigation because its outcome is very important,” the minister said.

Delhi traders' body CTI on Monday urged the Central government to ban import of lentil (masur) from Canada. It stressed the need to exert economic pressure in a letter to Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal and suggested alternatives such as contacting countries like Russia, Singapore, and Turkey for pulses.

India's annual pulse consumption is estimated at around 23 lakh tonnes of which 15-16 lakh tonnes is produced domestically and rest is imported from other countries. In the last financial year, India imported 4.85 lakh tonnes of lentil from Canada, said CTI Chairman Brijesh Goyal.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau recently alleged that the Indian government was behind the fatal shooting of Khalistani terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Canada. The assertion – vehemently denied by New Delhi – has also triggered speculation about Ottawa's sources. The Trudeau government recently announced that the intelligence was based on inputs from one of the other Five Eye countries – an intelligence alliance comprising Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the US and the UK.

“Most probably, given the geographic understandings, it would have been maybe America or England who had collected some intelligence on their own, or Canada asked them to find out some information that would also be so. And they collected some information and passed it back to Canada,” foreign affairs expert Robinder Sachdev told ANI.

Canadian authorities have not stopped issuing visas to Indian nationals looking to enter the north American country. This comes even though MEA has suspended issuing visa to any Canadian citizen, irrespective of their domicile. Read more

Pro-Khalistani banned terror outfit Babbar Khalsa International (BKI) is trying to settle its important members and executors abroad in the countries of their wish, with the help of Pro-Khalistan Elements (PKEs) who are well settled in various countries across the world.

A National Investigation Agency (NIA) charge-sheet filed in March this year reveals that the BKI's move has created a symbiotic terrorist-gangster network, between gangster and Pro-Khalistan elements which fulfil their requirement of the shooters to carry out targeted killings.

In return the gangsters get access to sophisticated weapons from across the border.

Popular Indian defence expert Qamar Agha told ANI news agency that 99% of Punjabis residing in India are not Khalistani and neither they support Khalistan-related activities. He hinted at Pakistan's intention in the rise of the Khalistan.

The Indian Community in Canada is concerned over the recent strain in relations between the two countries following Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’ allegations. Senior Canadian Journalist Harleem Sadia said that the Indian community has concerns which are very genuine.

She said common people are now finding it difficult to travel to India and Canada. It is difficult for people who lead normal lives, have regular jobs.

The US provided Canada with intelligence after the killing of Sikh separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar, but communications intercepted by Ottawa were more definitive and led it to accuse India of orchestrating the plot, The New York Times reported. The United States has urged India to cooperate with Canada in its investigations.

India is in the process of cancelling the registration of more than a dozen Overseas Citizenship of India (OCI) card holders for carrying out pro-Khalistan activities and anti-India propaganda. Read more

A high-ranking Indian security official has said that Canada has not shared any concrete evidence with India until now via diplomatic or intelligence channels that link India to the killing of Khalistani terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar. Read more

A group of people on Sunday staged a protest against Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau at the Jantar Mantar here, accusing him of supporting Khalistani separatists.

The protesters led by United Hindu Front chief Jai Bhagwan Goyal also submitted to authorities a memorandum addressed to the prime ministers of Canada and India, the outfit said in a statement.

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Liberal party MP Chandra Arya asserted that Hindu Canadians were fearful after threats issued by extremist elements. The lawmaker held his own party-led government in Canada responsible for inaction against Khalistan extremists.

“I am more worried about the consequence of what happened after the Prime Minister’s (Trudeau) statement. The concerns of the safety of Hindu Canadians here, Hindu Canadians are fearful. What I am worried is that the bloodshed is going to be Hindu Canadian’s blood,” he told CBC News.

While US Secretary of State Antony J Blinken has called upon India to cooperate with the Canadian investigation, US officials have been cautious about triggering any diplomatic backlash from India. Nevertheless, the revelation of US intelligence involvement risks "ensnaring" Washington in the ongoing diplomatic dispute between Canada and India, just as the US seeks to strengthen its partnership with New Delhi, NYT reported.

Canada urged to implement a ‘foreign policy reset’ and focus on Indo-Pacific diplomacy amid deteriorating relations with India. Japan Times suggested Canada should strengthen partnerships with Japan, South Korea, Australia, and Singapore to avoid past mistakes.

Read: Canada should shed ‘middle-power approach’ and...: Japan amid India-Canada row over Khalistan extremism

Amid worsening bilateral ties with New Delhi in the wake of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s allegation of Indian involvement in the killing of Sikh separatist leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar, it is perhaps time for Canada to implement a ‘foreign policy reset’, shedding off its ‘middle-power approach’ and focussing more on ‘Indo-Pacific diplomacy’, Japan Times reported.

Prime Minister Trudeau's allegation of an Indian role in the assassination of Khalistani leader Nijjar on Canadian soil, triggered a broader deterioration in relations between Ottawa and New Delhi, the report noted.

Notably, a similar episode also led to a deteriorating trend in China-Canada relations, the report stated, adding that Michael Spavor, a businessman, and Michael Kovrig, a former diplomat, were arrested by Beijing on espionage charges. The two were arrested following the detainment of Huawei executive Meng Wangzhou in December 2018 at the request of the United States, Japan Times reported.