Canada must not allow its soil to be used for anti-India activities
A story of agents executing transnational operations, intelligence agencies sharing crucial information, backchannel diplomatic conversations, political instability and every chapter from a racy spy thriller is playing out for the world audience, with Canada and India in the lead for the past few weeks. In a hurried and perhaps half-baked allegation Canadian PM Justine Trudeau blamed Indian agencies for carrying out extra-territorial executions of Canadian citizens.
India was quick to retort with a terse statement, which instead pointed out the long-standing issue of concern between the two countries in the form of Canada allowing Indian separatist groups to operate out of their country. The Indian statement said unequivocally “We have seen and reject the statement of the Canadian Prime Minister in their Parliament, as also the statement by their Foreign Minister. Allegations of the Government of India's involvement in any act of violence in Canada are absurd and motivated. Similar allegations were made by the Canadian Prime Minister to our Prime Minister and were completely rejected. Such unsubstantiated allegations seek to shift the focus from Khalistan terrorists and extremists, who have been provided shelter in Canada and continue to threaten India’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. We reject any attempts to connect the Government of India to such developments. We urge the Government of Canada to take prompt and effective legal action against all anti-India elements operating from their soil.”
What is happening in the bilateral relationship is not a recent development but has been brewing for decades. Nearly forty years back India had demanded the extradition of a terrorist from Canada, responsible for one of the worst plane bombings in history, killing everyone on board an Air India flight. The several convicts responsible for the act of terror were never convicted by Canada, despite repeated inputs from India abandoning victims’ families chasing long winding court cases for decades.
The reason Canada allows or even nurtures these anti-India forces on its soil leads through the corridors of domestic politics. Millions of Indians particularly from Punjab make a substantial chunk of the Canadian demography. While most of them earn an honest living and are peace-loving, some notorious elements have managed to sneak into Canada, working through well-oiled semi-government machinery. Over some time, these criminals and terrorists wanted by India, have managed to control important real estate through the Gurudwaras committees. These mafia-controlled gurudwaras also serve as a conduit for fulfilling the immigration dream of thousands of Punjab youth, working with their India handlers across Punjab and several other states of north India. The modus operandi for getting ground force for staging anti-India acts from Canadian soil starts with a letter issued by Indian handlers, about the youth facing discrimination, and persecution due to his religion, in India. This sets the ball rolling for the youth to get an easy Canadian citizenship, on mercy grounds and feeds into domestic political narratives. In the present case too, the trigger was PM Trudeau’s falling political popularity. A few months back he accused China of meddling with domestic politics even as he was trying to warm up the India bilateral, through a trade deal.
Canada understands the rising importance of India in the new global order, especially with China and Russia facing flak. It understands that a powerful, resilient, democratic India is important for a prosperous Indo-Pacific region, which indirectly translates to bringing more prosperity to its citizens. However, the domestic political concerns rise above geopolitics, and retaining the chair as PM seems more important for Trudeau at the moment. It may be argued that several news reports have pointed to US intelligence aid in Canadian allegations against India, however, the US knows which way the wind is blowing.
(The writer is a policy analyst; views are personal)
