Chandigarh: The Shiromani Gurudwara Prabandhak Committee (SGPC) Tuesday expressed concern over the escalating diplomatic row between India and Canada over the killing of a Sikh separatist leader and called for a “serious dialogue” on all contentious issues between the two countries.
In a press statement he issued Tuesday, SGPC president Harjinder Singh Dhami said both countries should adopt a “sincere approach in all matters related to the Sikhs” and not allow “an atmosphere of distrust” to develop in the community.
His statement comes in the wake of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s remarks in Canadian Parliament over the June killing of Khalistan Tiger Force chief Hardeep Singh Nijjar.
In his remarks, Trudeau said Canadian security agencies have been actively pursuing “credible allegations” of a potential link between Indian government agents and Nijjar’s killing. India has rejected the charges as “absurd and motivated”.
Soon after this, Canada expelled an Indian diplomat, with India mirroring the move hours later.
According to Dhami, the expulsion of an Indian diplomatic officer of India by the Canadian government raises many questions.
“Even though India rejected the allegations and expelled a Canadian diplomatic officer, this matter is very serious and directly related to the Sikhs, which is going to affect the community members at the global level,” he said. “Sikhs have always kept their presence high in the country (sic) and the world with their hardworking nature and intellectual strength, but despite this, the Sikhs always have to struggle for their rights.”
In a separate statement, SGPC general secretary Bhai Gurcharan Singh Grewal, said that the growing separatists sentiment being generated in Canada, Australia and the United Kingdom “didn’t bode well” for the Sikh diaspora.
Meanwhile, senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and former Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh strongly dismissed Trudeau’s allegations saying he had “walked into a trap” because of political compulsions and put at stake the diplomatic relationship between India and Canada.
Nijjar, a wanted militant in India, was shot dead in Surrey, Vancouver, on 19 June by unidentified assailants, becoming yet another Khalistani separatist being murdered or poisoned in the last few months.
Nijjar was believed to be a close associate of Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, founder of the Sikhs for Justice — an organisation outlawed in India.
Canada has a sizable Sikh diaspora — the community constitutes 2 percent of the country’s total population.
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‘Need appropriate and meaningful solution’
Both Dhami and Grewal warned of serious repercussions of the escalating diplomatic row.
In his statement, SGPC said it was “the responsibility of the government of the country” to adopt a sincere approach on all matters related to Sikhs, both in India and abroad, and “not to allow an atmosphere of distrust among the community members.
He also called on the Indian government to work towards an “appropriate and meaningful” solution “by understanding the problems and feelings” of the Sikh diaspora.
“Both Canada and India need to join hands, so that the truth can come out in case of accusations and the relations between the two countries also remain good,” Dhami said.
Grewal, meanwhile, said Trudeau’s statement must be seen in light of other international incidents. He referred to the March 2023 incident of vandalism and defacement of a temple in Brisbane.
“…in Australia during investigation of an incident where Sikhs were accused of painting the words ‘Khalistan’ on the walls of a temple, Brisbane Police found that Hindus themselves had painted those words. The police officer who was investigating the crime also said that when the walls of the temple were being painted, the cameras around the temple were switched off,” Grewal claimed.
He also referred to the detention of Jagtar Singh Johal, a Scottish-Sikh man who was arrested in 2017 in connection with the killing of Hindu leaders in Punjab. Johal’s family as well as sections of the British public — including former prime minister Boris Johnson — claim he was “arbitrarily detained”.
“…the prime minister of Britain (Rishi) Sunak asked the Government of India over the arrest of British citizen Jaggi Johal (during G20) to which the Indian prime minister and his other officials had no answer,” added Grewal.
The Shiromani Akali Dal, meanwhile, said Trudeau’s allegations were of “extremely serious” nature because it affected India’s reputation and image in the world.
“It is for the Indian prime minister and the Government of India to reply to these allegations with all the facts and figures available to them and his reply should also be given in Parliament while the (special) session is on. The souring of relations between these two countries is a matter of worry because Indians and Punjabis are residing in Canada in large numbers,” SAD General Secretary Daljit Singh Cheema said.
‘Free-hand to anti-India forces’
But former CM Amarinder Singh claimed it was “an irrefutable fact” that the Trudeau administration had given a free hand to “anti-India forces”.
“It was highly irresponsible for the prime minister of a country to make a statement without any evidence only because he was playing to the vote bank gallery,” said Singh in a statement, appreciating the Narendra Modi government’s decision to expel the Canadian diplomat.
Indian missions there were attacked and diplomats intimidated but there was no corrective action by the Canadian government, he said.
“Has the Canadian government taken any action against the culprits who attacked Indian missions there?” he said in the statement.
Amarinder said in 2018, when Trudeau had visited India on an eight-day tour, he had told the latter that Canadian land was being “used against India”. But instead of seeing the Canadian government taking any remedial measures, there was an increase in anti-India activities in that country, he said.
Amarinder said that the reason he had refused to meet former Canadian defence minister Harjit Singh Sajjan during the latter’s 2017 visit to India was because he was associated with the World Sikh Organisation, an outfit that “had a record of working against India”.
(Edited by Uttara Ramaswamy)
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