Close X
Tuesday, November 5, 2024
ADVT 
National

Sikh groups calls for Indian consulates to be shut down in Vancouver, Toronto

Darpan News Desk The Canadian Press, 15 Oct, 2024 04:52 PM
  • Sikh groups calls for Indian consulates to be shut down in Vancouver, Toronto

Representatives of a British Columbia Sikh temple whose president was shot dead last year, as well as the Sikh independence group he was involved in, say their communities won't feel safe until India's consulates in Vancouver and Toronto are shut down.

That's after the Canadian government expelled six Indian diplomats, including the high commissioner, and the RCMP announced on Monday it had evidence of their alleged involvement in crimes including homicide and extortion targeting the so-called Khalistan independence movement.

The Canadian government has previously said credible intelligence links India's government to the killing in June last year of activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar, leader of the Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara in Surrey, B.C., where community members have held a news conference.

Gurkeerat Singh, a spokesman for the gurdwara, says "the safety and the security of Sikhs will still be in question" unless India's consulates are shut down.

India has denied the police allegations that its diplomats coercively collected information on South Asian Canadians, then passed that information on to criminals who took violent action.

Jatinder Singh Grewal, a member of the advocacy group Sikhs for Justice, says Canada previously expelled an Indian diplomat in September last year and since then the RCMP has indicated the threat to Sikhs in Canada has increased.

"We have a strong belief that the threat will still not subside. It will increase, because India is taking the right to self-determination of Punjab very seriously and wishes to quell it," he told Tuesday's press conference, which he joined via video link.

"These houses of terror, they need to be shut down," he said of the consulates.

Grewal referred to the expulsion last year of Pavan Kumar Rai, a diplomatic agent who headed an Indian intelligence agency based in Ottawa.

On Monday, the government announced it was expelling six more diplomats, including Sanjay Kumar Verma, because of the criminal accusations. The RCMP said Monday there were six Indian diplomats they sought to question about the violent activities in Canada, and those six are the ones Canada expelled.

India responded by expelling six Canadian diplomats.

In September 2023, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced that Canadian intelligence services were investigating a potential link between India's government and Nijjar's killing. Four Indian nationals have since been charged with first-degree murder and conspiracy.

Grewal said the people who allegedly pulled the trigger are "merely tools," and the real issue was who collected information on Sikhs in Canada and allegedly shared that information with criminals to threaten and harm Sikh community members.

"The RCMP laid it out quite clearly, that Indian diplomats in Canada are actively monitoring, looking at the behaviour, patterns and activities of pro-Khalistani Sikhs, and then sharing that information with individuals back in India," he said.

RCMP Commissioner Michael Duheme said Monday that investigations revealed that Indian diplomats and consular officials based in Canada had allegedly leveraged their official positions to engage in clandestine activities, including collecting information for the government of India, either directly or through proxies.

The RCMP told The Canadian Press it was investigating three homicides across the country over the last two years with possible links to India, but the Mounties would not clarify whether those include Nijjar's killing.

Grewal said shutting down India's consulates in Toronto and Vancouver would remove the shield afforded by diplomatic positions.

"We can't allow this to continue because it endangers Canadian safety and Canadian sovereignty," he said.

MORE National ARTICLES

Canada needs 30,000 new immigrants in agri sector: Report

Canada needs 30,000 new immigrants in agri sector: Report
Over the same period, a shortfall of 24,000 general farm, nursery and greenhouse workers is expected to emerge, and in 10 years, 60 per cent of today's farm operators will be over the age of 65, that is, close to retirement.

Canada needs 30,000 new immigrants in agri sector: Report

B.C. old-growth protesters celebrate as contempt prosecution has 'collapsed'

B.C. old-growth protesters celebrate as contempt prosecution has 'collapsed'
Gordon Comer with the prosecution service says they’re reviewing other cases affected by a court ruling back in February that acquitted protester Ryan Henderson on contempt charges due to the R-C-M-P’s failure to properly read an injunction to Fairy Creek blockaders. 

B.C. old-growth protesters celebrate as contempt prosecution has 'collapsed'

Male suspect allegedly stabs another male passenger in the abdomen on SkyTrain travelling to Surrey Central Station

Male suspect allegedly stabs another male passenger in the abdomen on SkyTrain travelling to Surrey Central Station
While the train was in motion, there was an alleged verbal interaction between the victim and a nearby male passenger, which resulted in the male passenger pulling out a sharp object and stabbing the victim in the abdomen.

Male suspect allegedly stabs another male passenger in the abdomen on SkyTrain travelling to Surrey Central Station

Weekend home invasion investigation continues: Ridge Meadows RCMP

Weekend home invasion investigation continues: Ridge Meadows RCMP
Ridge Meadows R-C-M-P say they were called to a home at 1:30 in the morning on Saturday on Garden Street after receiving a report of a home invasion they say was targeted. R-C-M-P say officers held the scene as they awaited a search warrant, which was executed by the detachment’s Investigative Support Team. 

Weekend home invasion investigation continues: Ridge Meadows RCMP

Vancouver police officer tells inquest he punched Myles Gray as hard as he could

Vancouver police officer tells inquest he punched Myles Gray as hard as he could
A Vancouver police officer told a British Columbia coroner’s jury that he punched Myles Gray in the head as hard as he could several times because he didn’t think anything else would work to subdue the man, other than shooting him.

Vancouver police officer tells inquest he punched Myles Gray as hard as he could

Sociologist says pandemic may have made Canadian youth less empathetic, meaner

Sociologist says pandemic may have made Canadian youth less empathetic, meaner
The challenges of confinement also made parents less strict about managing children's screen time, she said, calling for "more preparation, education, support and scaffolding that goes into young people's use of digital technologies."

Sociologist says pandemic may have made Canadian youth less empathetic, meaner