India summons Canadian diplomat over activities by pro-Khalistan groups

By Anadolu staff

ANKARA (AA) - India on Monday summoned Canadian High Commissioner in the national capital New Delhi over activities by pro-Khalistan supporters in Canada.

The diplomatic action comes after a "freedom rally" has been called in Canada by pro-Khalistan supporters this week, and a poster surfaced on social media in which Indian diplomats based in Canada have been targeted.

A part of India’s Sikh community launched the Khalistan movement in the late 1970s, triggering a wave of deadly violence that claimed thousands of lives in Indian Punjab, where Sikhs are the majority. While Sikh secessionism has largely died down in India, pro-Khalistan groups have remained active internationally.

On Tuesday morning, Canada’s Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly said her country takes its obligations under the Vienna Conventions regarding the safety of diplomats very seriously.

"Canada remains in close contact with Indian officials in light of some of the promotional material circulating online regarding a protest planned for July 8th, which are unacceptable,” she wrote on Twitter. “We know that the actions of a few do not speak for an entire community or Canada,” she added.

In New Delhi, Indian government sources told Anadolu that Canadian High Commissioner was summoned on Monday and a "demarche was issued."

In recent months, pro-Khalistan protests have taken place outside Indian diplomatic missions in several countries, including the US, UK, and Canada.

Last week, a group of pro-Khalistan supporters attempted to set the Indian Consulate on fire in San Francisco and the fire department extinguished the fire that caused no major damage or injuries, the local news agency Asian News International reported.

On Tuesday morning, US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said that the US "strongly condemns the reported vandalism and attempted arson" against the Indian Consulate in San Francisco on Saturday.

"Vandalism or violence against diplomatic facilities or foreign diplomats in the U.S. is a criminal offense," he wrote on Twitter.

Asian News International reported that posters circulating on social media blamed the Indian diplomats based in Canada for their role in the killing of Sikh rebel Hardeep Singh Nijjar.

In June, Hardeep Singh Nijjar, who headed the Sikh rebel outfit Khalistan Tiger Force and the Canadian arm of Sikhs For Justice (SFJ), was killed by unknown gunmen in Canada.

In 2020, Nijjar was declared as a "designated terrorist," along with several others by the Indian government.

Both the SFJ and Khalistan Tiger Force demand the secession of the Sikh-dominated northern Punjab state under the name of Khalistan.

As the protests by pro-Khalistan supporters have escalated abroad, Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar warned that the Khalistan issue could impact countries’ ties with India.

"We have requested our partner countries like Canada, the United States, the UK, and Australia not to give space to the Khalistanis because their (Khalistanis) radical, extremist thinking is neither good for us nor them, nor our relations,” he said.