Trudeau and Khalistan: Implications for Liberal Democracies

by Sanjay Pulipaka and Mohit Musaddi

India-Canada relations have been on a downward trend in recent years. On Monday, matters further deteriorated after Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said in the House of Commons that there were “credible allegations” that agents of the Indian government had played a role in the assassination of a Canadian citizen, Hardeep Singh Nijjar. Unidentified assailants shot him dead in June this year outside a Sikh cultural centre in Surrey, British Columbia.

Nijjar, who was a member of the Khalistan Tiger Force (KTF), a banned militant organisation, was designated a terrorist by Indian authorities. Nijjar had been a wanted figure for several years, and his name had figured in the list of nine wanted people handed over by then Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh to PM Trudeau in 2018.

India’s Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has categorically denied Trudeau’s recent allegations, referring to them as “absurd and motivated”. The former head of India’s intelligence agency Research & Analysis Wing (R&AW) said that the claims are “absolutely bizarre”. The evidence of the allegations has not been shared with their Indian counterparts so far.

It is imperative that the Trudeau government should come forward and publicly share evidence or, indeed, acknowledge the erroneous decision to go public without substantive proof. On India’s role, Justin Trudeau’s statement reflected on a “potential link”, and the Canadian foreign minister stated that allegations “if proven true this would be a great violation of our sovereignty” (emphasis added). If the Canadian PM and his government did not yet have robust evidence, one wonders why he made such a statement, which would have significant consequences not only for the India-Canada bilateral relationship but also impact the NATO powers’ assessment of Canada. It could be that the articulation has more to do with Trudeau maintaining his party’s fragile coalition in power. In March 2022, Trudeau struck a surprise deal with the opposition New Democratic Party (NDP) to keep himself in power until 2025. The NDP is led by Jagmeet Singh, who is reportedly a supporter of the Khalistani movement.

Canada has witnessed a bizarre spectacle of referendums, including one in Surrey while Trudeau was in India attending the G20 Summit, organised to decide whether the Indian state of Punjab should be declared as an independent country. A referendum is usually organised to elicit the opinion of people living in a specific geography, which they claim as their homeland. However, seeking views of the diaspora in distant countries on matters pertaining to their country of origin undermines the general will and interest of the people in whose name referendums are organised.

The Canadian government has not formally endorsed the results of such referendums. However, the fact that Canadian citizens were organising such events for the dismemberment of a liberal democratic country should have prompted the government to curtail such events. It will be equally bizarre to imagine a referendum being organised in the United States or Canada as to whether Scotland or the Basque region should be an independent country. The absurdity of such an exercise would have elicited a sharp reaction from the governments of the United Kingdom and Spain. By allowing these events to go unchecked, the current Canadian government is facilitating blatant interference in the domestic politics of another democracy.

There is a long-standing and legitimate grievance in India that Canada has been hosting Khalistani separatist elements who have violently killed innocent civilians. In 1982, the Indian government had asked the Canadian government for the extradition of Talwinder Singh Parmar, the head of Babbar Khalsa International, a Khalistani terror outfit. However, the Canadian government refused the extradition request. A few years later, Talwinder Singh Parmar reportedly planned and executed the bombing of Air India flight 182 Kanishka, which killed 329 people on board, including 82 children and six infants.

Earlier this year, an exhibit of the brutal assassination of a former prime minister, Indira Gandhi, was displayed in a parade, which generated considerable disappointment in India. There have also been reports about posters calling for the assassination of Indian diplomats. The Indian Foreign Minister explained that “there is an underlying issue about the space which is given to separatists, to extremists, to people who advocate violence”.

It is indeed ironic that even the vandalisation of places of worship of religious minorities has failed to stir the conscience of Trudeau’s government. Now, the allegations from none other than the Prime Minister of Canada may make minorities even more vulnerable in Canada. Therefore, it is not surprising that the Indian government has put out an advisory urging Indian citizens to “exercise utmost caution”. Earlier, the Canadian government also issued a similar advisory for its citizens travelling to India.

Thus far, none of the NATO allies have endorsed or validated the Canadian claims. Now that Canada is reaching out to some of the Five-Eye countries and establishing precedence, India may also produce considerable evidence to the Quad countries or other similar groupings of Canada’s illiberal actions and its efforts to undermine the functioning of liberal democracy.

It is inevitable that other aspects of the India-Canada relationship will sour as a result of such allegations. Trade and commerce between the two countries have already been affected recently, and Delhi has paused negotiations for a comprehensive free trade agreement (FTA) with Canada.

The Canadian political discourse in the recent past has been concerned about external influence in the domestic and electoral politics of Canada. Earlier this year, Ottawa released reports based on leaked intelligence about claims of Chinese meddling in the country’s last two federal elections in 2019 and 2021. The Canadian Leader of Opposition, Pierre Poilievre, stated that he found it interesting that PM Justin Trudeau “knew about vast foreign interference by Beijing for many years… and he said nothing and did nothing.” Pierre Poilievre called on the Trudeau government to come clean on all the facts on his India allegations.

The dalliance with extremist and criminal elements is not good for Canada’s polity or for the safety and security of other liberal democracies. The Indian government, over the years, has been asking Canada for the deportation of individuals associated with various terror groups. India has been concerned that Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) has been providing funds to intensify anti-India activities in Canada. One can only hope that the Canadian reluctance to deport wanted criminals and its illiberal policies will not result in another fatal terrorist incident like the 1985 Air India bombing.

Sanjay Pulipaka is the Chairperson, and Mohit Musaddi is a Fellow at the Politeia Research Foundation. The views expressed are personal.