Canada expels Indian diplomats over accusations of threatening, violent acts and murder

The Canadian government on Monday expelled six Indian diplomats as it accused New Delhi of a broad campaign of violence, spying and indimidation against dissidents on Canadian soil . India expelled six Canadian diplomats in response.

The allegations and pushed relations between the two democracies to an all-time low, and built on shocking charges by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau last year that India was involved in the killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar , a Canadian citizen and Sikh separatist leader branded a "terrorist" by New Delhi.

At a news conference on Monday, Canada's Thanksgiving holiday, Trudeau said investigators had "clear and compelling evidence that agents of the government of India have engaged in and continue to engage in activities that pose a significant threat to public safety."

Those activities, he said, include "clandestine information gathering techniques, coercive behavior targeting South Asian Canadians, and involvement in over a dozen threatening and violent acts, including murder."

"This is unacceptable," he added.

Indian agents in Canada also used organized crime to target Canada's South Asian community, Royal Canadian Mounted Police assistant commissioner Brigitte Gauvin said at an earlier news conference. An Indian organization called "the Bishnoi Group," she said, was linked to India's government.

Lawrence Bishnoi, accused by India's National Investigation Agency of masterminding a criminal syndicate, is currently awaiting trial in the western part of the country on terrorism charges.

The alleged interference wasn't confined to Canada. U.S. officials last year said they had foiled a plot by an Indian agent to assassinate a Sikh leader in New York.

India said it pulled its diplomats from the country after Canada said they were "persons of interest" in an internal investigation. "The Government of India strongly rejects these preposterous imputations and ascribes them to the political agenda of the Trudeau Government," the Indian Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Monday.

Murder of Sikh leader on Canadian soil triggers diplomatic row

The deterioration of diplomatic relations between the two countries was triggered by the fatal shooting of Nijjar outside a Sikh temple in Surrey, a suburb of Vancouver with a large Sikh population, in June of last year.

Nijjar, 45, was a leader in the movement to carve out a piece of Indian territory as a homeland for the Sikh population. He was appointed the chief of the Khalistan Tiger Force, a militant organization within the movement that India calls a terrorist group. In Surrey, he headed a Sikh place of worship.

More: Canada says India helped assassinate a Sikh activist: Who was Hardeep Singh Nijjar? Rift between the countries widens

India's government first began in seeking Nijjar in 2007, in connection with the bombing of a movie theater in the state of Punjab. By that time, Nijjar had already lived in Canada for a decade. He earned his Canadian citizenship in 2015.

Canada's suspicions that India was involved in Nijjar's death prompted the country to pause talks on a trade treaty and expel each other's diplomats last September.

Contributing: Reuters

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Canada expels Indian diplomats over accusations of threatening, violent acts and murder