The strain in the India-Canada relationship spiked dramatically on October 14 after the Canadian government said that Indian diplomats including the High Commissioner were “persons of interest” in the Hardeep Singh Nijjar murder investigation. New Delhi responded by withdrawing these diplomats, and expelling six Canadian diplomats from the country.
Subsequently, Canadian police accused the Indian government of using gangster Lawrence Bishnoi to carry out criminal operations in that country, and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said India had “repeatedly refused” to cooperate in the investigation.
Relations between India and Canada have been under a severe strain since September last year, when Trudeau told parliament that there was evidence linking Indian agents to the assassination of Nijjar, a Sikh separatist who was shot dead in Surrey, Canada in June 2023. India rejected the allegations, calling them motivated.
This is a timeline of the main events in this extraordinary diplomatic and political situation over the last year between India and Canada.
SEPT 10: Prime Minister Narendra Modi conveyed concerns about protests by Sikh separatist in Canada to Prime Minister Trudeau on the sidelines of a G20 summit in New Delhi. A few days earlier, Ottawa had paused discussions on the Early Progress Trade Agreement (EPTA) with New Delhi.
SEPT 18: In a statement to Canada’s parliament, Trudeau accused the Indian government of involvement in the assassination of Sikh separatist Nijjar, who was shot dead outside a gurdwara in Surrey on June 18. Trudeau said Canada has reason to believe that “agents of the Indian government” carried out the killing.
SEPT 19: India dismissed Trudeau’s claims as “absurd and motivated”. The Ministry of External Affairs said the “unsubstantiated allegations” sought to shift focus away from “Khalistani terrorists and extremists who have been provided shelter in Canada”. Hours later, Canadian envoy Cameron MacKay was summoned to South Block and informed of the government’s decision to expel a senior Canadian diplomat.
SEPT 22: India suspended issuing new visas for Canadians and asked Ottawa to reduce its diplomatic presence in India, seeking diplomatic parity between the two countries.
OCT 20: Canada’s Foreign Minister Melanie Joly announced that 41 Canadian diplomats and their 42 family members had been withdrawn from India since they were “in danger of having immunity stripped on an arbitrary date” and that would have “put their personal safety at risk”. Canada halted its visa and consular services in Chandigarh, Mumbai, and Bengaluru.
NOV 29: The United States Department of Justice (DoJ) charged Indian national Nikhil Gupta for his involvement in a thwarted plot to murder US-based Khalistani separatist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, at the behest of an Indian government official who was identified as “CC1”.
NOV 30: The MEA instituted a “high-level enquiry committee” to look into inputs from the US government on reports of the alleged involvement of Indians in a plot to target Pannun.
MAY 3: Canadian police charged three people in the Nijjar’s murder case — Karan Brar (22), Kamalpreet Singh (22), and Karanpreet Singh (28).
MAY 11: A fourth Indian national was arrested by Canadian authorities in connection with the killing of Nijjar.
JUNE 15: India and Canada agreed to “work together” to deal with some “very important issues”, Trudeau said after meeting Modi on the sidelines of the G-7 Outreach Summit in Italy.
JUNE 16: Indian national Nikhil Gupta, accused of being involved in murder-for-hire plot against Pannun, was extradited to the US from the Czech Republic. In the US court, he pleaded not guilty. On June 30, 2023, as Gupta travelled from India to the Czech Republic, he had been arrested by Czech law enforcement authorities at the request of the US, pursuant to the bilateral extradition treaty between the two countries.
OCT 11: Prime Minister Modi and his Canadian counterpart Trudeau had a brief exchange in Vientiane where Modi attended the ASEAN Summit and the East Asia Summit. While India said nothing substantive was discussed, Trudeau said he had a “brief exchange” with Modi, where he spoke of the “work that we need to do”.
OCT 13: India received a diplomatic communication from Canada suggesting that the Indian High Commissioner Sanjay Verma and other diplomats were “persons of interest” in a matter related to an investigation in that country. Nijjar was not mentioned, but the reference was obvious.
OCT 14: India ordered the expulsion of six Canadian diplomats, and announced its decision to withdraw the Indian High Commissioner to Canada and “other targeted diplomats”, citing security concerns.