OTTAWA (Reuters) -Canadian Sikhs are grateful to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for giving voice to their fears and standing as much as India on the threat of extreme backlash from New Delhi, which he mentioned might be linked to the homicide of a Sikh separatist chief.

The Indian authorities thought of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a Canadian citizen who was shot to demise in June in British Columbia (BC), a terrorist due to his advocacy for Khalistan, an unbiased Sikh state.

India forcefully denied its involvement in Nijjar’s homicide, which came about within the car parking zone of a Sikh temple in Surrey, BC. But Canadian Sikhs are unconvinced, and the minority who’re lively proponents of Khalistan are afraid.

“There’s a lot of fear,” mentioned Sentokh Singh, who was among the many small group who protested in entrance of the Indian High Commission (embassy) in Ottawa this week. “That’s why we are here today.”

Both nations expelled diplomats in a tit-for-tat retaliation after Trudeau’s bombshell announcement final week, however India has gone additional, issuing a journey warning and halting visa issuance to Canadians.

Trudeau’s transfer dangers derailing a strategic financial and political shift many Western nations are making in direction of India to counter China. It additionally distracted consideration from his push to deal with cost-of-living issues, which have weighed closely on his recognition in opinion polls.

Canada is dwelling to about 770,000 Sikhs, the best inhabitants outdoors the northern Indian state of Punjab, and the Indian authorities has for many years expressed its displeasure with some neighborhood members’ outspoken help for Khalistan.

Sikhs punch above their weight in Canadian politics. They have 15 members within the House of Commons, greater than 4% of the seats, largely from key battlegrounds in nationwide elections, whereas comprising solely about 2% of the Canadian inhabitants.

Furthermore, one member is Jagmeet Singh, chief of the opposition New Democrats, a left-leaning social gathering that’s supporting the Trudeau’s minority authorities.

“In political terms, this is no-brainer: You got to get out ahead of the story and you got to express outrage,” mentioned Fen Hampson, professor of worldwide affairs at Carleton University in Ottawa.

Trudeau’s “unsubstantiated allegations” search to shift focus away from “Khalistani terrorists and extremists who have been provided shelter in Canada,” India’s overseas ministry mentioned.

Canada says Sikhs have a proper to peaceable protest and there was no proof of violence, terrorist exercise or wrongdoing.

A buddy of Nijjar’s, Gurmeet Singh Toor, is an lively member of the identical temple and a Khalistan supporter. He was instructed in August by the federal police that his life is perhaps “in peril”, in response to a doc he was given by police that offered no particulars in regards to the potential menace.

The RCMP wouldn’t corroborate the doc, saying it might improve the danger to the person who obtained it.

An insurgency searching for a Sikh homeland of Khalistan killed tens of 1000’s within the Eighties and Nineteen Nineties and was crushed by India. It has virtually no help in Punjab right this moment.

However, on Friday a whole lot of Sikh activists staged an illustration outdoors the Golden Temple in Amritsar, in Punjab, demanding punishment for the Nijjar’s killers.

Mukhbir Singh, a member of the Ottawa Sikh Society, mentioned Canadian Sikhs’ views on Khalistan range and everybody ought to be capable to specific their very own opinion. He mentioned Trudeau is sticking up for Canadian democratic values.

“Prime Minister Trudeau has taken a stance” to make “paramount” the security of its residents, he mentioned, regardless that the Canadian authorities doesn’t help Khalistan. “In Canada, we have the right to express our opinions even if they don’t align with the opinions of the government.”

Trudeau, the longest serving progressive chief within the G7 group of rich nations, is trailing badly in opinion polls. As he rolls out a sequence of measures to deal with cost-of-living issues and attempt to claw again help, the tensions with India have interfered with makes an attempt to speak these new insurance policies, senior officers in Ottawa mentioned.

Suk Dhaliwal, a Sikh Liberal member of parliament for Surrey, instructed Reuters he isn’t a Khalistan separatist, however a Canadian, and Canadians have a proper to protest peacefully. He mentioned his constituents have suspected since June the involvement of the Indian authorities within the homicide.

“The community feels a bit relieved now that at least there is someone who has shown leadership to bring this message forward,” Dhaliwal mentioned.

(Reporting by Steve Scherer; Additional reporting by Wa Lone in Toronto; Editing by Denny Thomas and Daniel Wallis)

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