India expelled a senior Canadian diplomat on Tuesday, slamming “absurd and motivated” claims that New Delhi had an element to play in an extra-judicial slaying of a Sikh activist in Canada.

Canadian intelligence businesses have been actively pursuing credible hyperlinks between Indian authorities brokers and the homicide of Canadian Sikh group chief Hardeep Singh Nijjar exterior a Sikh cultural heart in British Columbia, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told a Parliament seating in Ottawa on Monday.

Nijjar, a robust supporter of an impartial Sikh homeland named Khalistan, was killed on June 18.

“Such unsubstantiated allegations seek to shift the focus from Khalistani terrorists and extremists, who have been provided shelter in Canada and continue to threaten India’s sovereignty and territorial integrity,” India’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement. “The inaction of the Canadian Government on this matter has been a long-standing and continuing concern.”

In retaliation, India expelled a senior Canadian diplomat after summoning Canada’s excessive commissioner, or ambassador, to the nation, the Indian Foreign Ministry mentioned. This got here simply hours after Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Joly announced that Ottawa had expelled a high Indian diplomat.

“Canada has declared its deep concerns to the top intelligence and security officials of the Indian government,” Trudeau mentioned Monday. “Any involvement of a foreign government in the killing of a Canadian citizen on Canadian soil is an unacceptable violation of our sovereignty.”

While Canadian leaders stopped in need of explicitly accusing India, they urged Indian authorities to completely cooperate within the investigations, with Joly emphasizing that Canada “will not tolerate any form of foreign interference.”

Australia mentioned it was “deeply concerned” about Canada’s allegations, whereas the United Kingdom mentioned it is in close contact with its Canadian companions over the matter.

Activism in Canada amongst a few of its Sikh diaspora, which accounts for about 2% of its inhabitants, has been a difficulty of rivalry in bilateral ties between Canada and India.

It has difficult Ottawa’s makes an attempt to deepen financial ties with the world’s most populous nation as a part of its broader try and “de-risk” from China, together with its Western allies.

Before the Group of 20 nations’ leaders’ summit two weekends in the past, Ottawa had paused talks on a proposed commerce treaty with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party authorities.

While Canada views peaceable Sikh activism as a part of free expression, India views Canada’s continued tolerance as an endorsement of Sikh separatism that it regards as an infringement on its home affairs.

India Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar had on June 8 condemned online video footage of a parade float within the Canadian metropolis of Brampton that glorified violence and vengeance in its depiction of the 1984 assassination of Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.

“That Canadian political figures have openly expressed sympathy for such elements remains a matter of deep concern,” India’s Foreign Ministry mentioned Tuesday. “The space given in Canada to a range of illegal activities including murders, human trafficking and organized crime is not new.”

“We reject any attempts to connect Government of India to such developments. We urge the Government of Canada to take prompt and effective legal action against all anti-India elements operating from their soil,” India’s Foreign Ministry added.

He additionally mentioned they had been “promoting secessionism and inciting violence against Indian diplomats” and “threatening the Indian community in Canada and their places of worship.”