Close X
    Friday, November 8, 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.

    Prev Next

    MORE National ARTICLES

    Federal health offer is $196 billion over a decade

    Federal health offer is $196 billion over a decade
    There will also be an immediate one-time $2 billion top-up to this year's Canada Health Transfer to help provinces ease the intense pressure on emergency rooms and children's hospitals. Provinces can also get $1.7 billion over five years to increase wages for personal support workers in long-term care and home care.

    Federal health offer is $196 billion over a decade

    COVID critic died of drug toxicity: B.C. coroner

    COVID critic died of drug toxicity: B.C. coroner
    The report says Mak Parhar was found by a family member unresponsive in the bathroom of his New Westminster home on Nov. 4, 2021. The coroner's report says Parhar had ethanol, cocaine and fentanyl in his system at the time of death, ruling it accidental due to "mixed illicit drug toxicity."

    COVID critic died of drug toxicity: B.C. coroner

    West Fraser Timber to curtail Quesnel, B.C., mill

    West Fraser Timber to curtail Quesnel, B.C., mill
    West Fraser says the downtime at the Cariboo mill will help the company align its production capacity, though its plans may change if the fibre forecasts do. The company says the mill expects to mitigate some of the impact on employees through vacation scheduling and alternative work assignments.

    West Fraser Timber to curtail Quesnel, B.C., mill

    Climate change pushes B.C. urchins to shallows

    Climate change pushes B.C. urchins to shallows
    The study's co-author, Rylan Command, said heat domes and heat waves are becoming more common, and understanding how the ocean responds to those changes can have a direct impact on people.

    Climate change pushes B.C. urchins to shallows

    One-third of Canadians financially worse off: poll

    One-third of Canadians financially worse off: poll
    According to a Leger poll commissioned by the Association for Canadian Studies, 34 per cent of Canadian households say they're financially worse off compared with a year ago. The majority of respondents, 58 per cent, said their financial situation was about the same as it was a year ago.    

    One-third of Canadians financially worse off: poll

    Trudeau to present new health offer to premiers

    Trudeau to present new health offer to premiers
    The provinces budgeted about $204 billion for health care in this fiscal year and the Canada Health Transfer was set at $45 billion, or about 22 per cent of that. The premiers want the federal share to increase to 35 per cent.

    Trudeau to present new health offer to premiers

    PrevNext