ad

The Canadian government alleged on Tuesday that Indian Minister of Home Affairs Amit Shah, a close ally of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, was behind the plots to target Sikh separatists on Canadian soil.

The Indian government did not immediately respond but has dismissed Canada’s prior accusations as baseless, denying any involvement.

CANADA-INDIA TIES COULD TAKE A LONG TIME TO RECOVER

The Washington Post newspaper first reported that Canadian officials alleged Shah, considered the number two in the Modi government, was behind a campaign of violence and intimidation targeting Sikh separatists in Canada.

Canadian Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister David Morrison said to a parliamentary panel on Tuesday that he told the U.S.-based newspaper that Shah was behind the plots.

“The journalist called me and asked if it (Shah) was that person. I confirmed it was that person,” Morrison told the committee, without providing further details or evidence. The High Commission of India in Ottawa and the Indian foreign ministry had no immediate comment.

The Indian home ministry directed queries to the foreign ministry.

Canada told India about Shah’s alleged role in the plots around October 2023, one Indian government source told Reuters in New Delhi on Wednesday.

But New Delhi thinks the information is very weak, flimsy and does not expect it to cause any trouble for Shah or the government, the source and another government source said.

Both spoke on condition of anonymity as they are not authorised to speak to the media.

India has called Sikh separatists “terrorists” and threats to its security. Sikh separatists demand an independent homeland known as Khalistan to be carved out of India. An insurgency in India during the 1980s and 1990s killed tens of thousands.

That period included the 1984 anti-Sikh riots that left thousands dead following the assassination of then-Prime Minister Indira Gandhi by her Sikh bodyguards after she ordered security forces to storm the holiest Sikh temple to flush out Sikh separatists.

Canada in mid-October expelled Indian diplomats, linking them to the 2023 murder of Sikh separatist leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar on Canadian soil. India also ordered the expulsion of Canadian diplomats.

The Canadian case is not the only instance of India’s alleged targeting of Sikh separatists on foreign soil.

Washington has charged a former Indian intelligence officer, Vikash Yadav, for allegedly directing a foiled plot to murder Sikh separatist leader Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, a dual U.S.-Canadian citizen and Indian critic in New York City.

The FBI warned against such a retaliation aimed at a U.S. resident. India has said little publicly since announcing in November 2023 it would formally investigate the U.S. allegations.

The accusations have tested Washington and Ottawa’s relations with India, often viewed by the West as a counterbalance to China.

BREAKINGBREAKING,

North Korea is believed to have test-fired an intercontinental ballistic missile towards the sea, South Korea reports.

North Korea has launched a suspected intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) towards waters off its eastern coast, South Korea’s military said.

South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said in a statement that the missile launch towards the East Sea, which is also known as the Sea of Japan, was detected at around 7:10am local time (22:10 GMT).

“North Korea’s ballistic missile appears to be an ICBM fired on a lofted trajectory,” the JCS said in a text message, the country’s Yonhap news agency reports.

North Korea’s launch of longer-range missiles in “lofted trajectory” means firing the missile almost vertically. This allows a missile to travel to a very high altitude but then land a short horizontal distance from the launch site.

Such launches are said to enable Pyongyang to gather data sent back from missile tests to better understand the challenges faced when a long-range warhead re-enters the Earth’s atmosphere.

North Korea has not test-launched ballistic missiles since September this year and has not launched an ICBM since December 2023, South Korea’s Yonhap news agency reports.

The latest reported missile launch comes a day after South Korea’s military intelligence agency told lawmakers that North Korea has likely completed preparations for its seventh nuclear test and was close to test-firing a long-range missile capable of reaching the United States.

The launch also comes amid concerns about North Korea’s reported troop dispatch to Russia to support its war against Ukraine.

Speaking at a news conference in Washington with South Korean Defence Minister Kim Yong-hyun on Wednesday, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said North Korean troops wearing Russian uniforms and carrying Russian equipment are moving towards Ukraine, in what he called a dangerous and destabilising development.

South Korea reports that North Korea has sent more than 11,000 troops to Russia and that more than 3,000 of them have been moved close to fighting in western Russia.