The Indian government has lodged a strong protest with Canada after consular officials at the Indian consulate in Vancouver were informed they were under audio and video surveillance and that their private communications had been intercepted. The Indian government maintains that Canada has provided space for pro-Khalistan elements operating from Canadian soil with impunity and has urged Canada to take action against anti-India elements.
The Canadian high commissioner to India was summoned to the ministry of external affairs and informed about the decision to expel the senior Canadian diplomat.
Quoting officials, The Washington Post said, the foiled assassination was part of an escalating campaign of aggression by RAW against the Indian diaspora in Asia, Europe and North America.
Vikas Yadav, 39, was employed by the Cabinet Secretariat, which houses India's foreign intelligence service, the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), the federal prosecutors claimed on Thursday in an indictment filed in a US court in New York.
'Can Trudeau's evidence hold up? If not, he's finished.'
India has constituted a probe team to investigate allegations relating to the foiled plot to kill Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, a Sikh extremist and known to be an American and Canadian citizen.
The Khalistan movement leader is trying to provoke Hindu Canadians to react and divide the Hindu and Sikh communities in Canada, Arya said.
The accused have been identified as Rajpreet Singh, Virender Singh, Sachin Bhati, Arpit Dhankar and Susheel Pradhan, the police said.
India has constituted a high-level inquiry committee to probe allegations relating to a conspiracy to kill a Sikh extremist on American soil.
India on Thursday described as 'matter of serious concern' reports that said some members of the Indian community in Canadian province of British Columbia received 'extortion calls'.
'And when the floats go by in the parade garlanded and decorated with the posters of gun toting assassins and murderers and martyrs, you look the other way.' 'And in return we will bring you 10,000 votes because the people of the gurdwaras will vote as we tell them to vote.'
"When it comes to the Canadian matter, we have made clear that the allegations are extremely serious and they need to be taken seriously. We wanted to see the government of India cooperate with Canada in its investigation. Obviously, they have not chosen that path," State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller told reporters at his daily news conference.
Sikh Federation UK, which has styled itself as one of the largest Sikh organisations based in the UK, said Avtar Singh was terminally ill with blood cancer. He was on a life support system for the last few days.
'Are we to believe that coordinated moves by the Canadian and US authorities are no longer taking place?', asks Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
'Canada doesn't want to de-escalate and neither does India. There is war when one party wants it, but peace is won by both parties.'
Canada's allegations of India's involvement in the killing of a Sikh separatist in Surrey that sparked a diplomatic row between the two nations are based on both human and signals intelligence and inputs from an ally from Ottawa's Five Eye intelligence network, a media report has said citing the Canadian government sources.
It seems that the West is sending a signal to India that it can return to old hostilities unless India toes their line on Russia. It is no surprise that India is being compared with Putin's Russia in terms of targeting 'dissidents' as the West calls these Khalistani terrorists, asserts Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
The statements the separatists make, the abominable tableaux at their parades, the slogans, posters, and selfies with assault rifles are not India's problem. If they are a nuisance, it should bother their host countries, because they are armed and have their own underworld with deadly gang rivalries. Significantly, none of this happens in the US -- only in snowflaky Canada, points out Shekhar Gupta.
Once the Canadian investigation runs its course, Ottawa may put on the public domain further accusations passing for "evidence" -- and that could happen at some point closer to our general election. All in all, the big question is, what is it that the US is really up to, asks Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
