00:00 Relations between India and Canada are now facing a serious downturn after Canadian Prime
00:05 Minister Justin Trudeau's comments in their parliament.
00:08 He has accused alleged agents of the Government of India of killing Canadian Khalistani leader
00:13 Harjeet Singh Nijjar in June 2023.
00:16 Trudeau's accusation set off a chain of events.
00:19 Canada expelled a senior Indian diplomat.
00:22 India summoned the Canadian High Commissioner and expelled Canada's Station Chief for Intelligence
00:26 and now has asked the Canadians to reduce staff at the Canadian Embassy in India.
00:31 Also, India has temporarily stopped giving visas to Canadian citizens.
00:37 India and Canada established diplomatic relations in 1947.
00:41 This relationship was to be built upon shared traditions of democracy, pluralism and strong
00:46 interpersonal connections.
00:47 During the tenure of Conservative Party's Stephen Harper as Canadian PM from 2006 to
00:54 2015, Canada and India enjoyed strong relations.
00:58 There were 19 high-level visits from Canada to India and the joint celebration of 2011
01:03 as the Year of India in Canada during this period.
01:07 Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Canada in 2015 was the first bilateral visit
01:11 by an Indian PM since 1973.
01:15 India-Canada relations were elevated from bilateral relations to a strategic partnership
01:19 at the time.
01:21 The government praised the visit with the assumption that decades of mistrust over the
01:25 Khalistan issue could be brushed aside.
01:27 However, this was not to be and India-Canada diplomatic relations have deteriorated further
01:33 since 2015 due to the Khalistan protests and have increased in recent times.
01:39 The Khalistan movement in Canada traces back to Surjan Singh Gill's establishment of the
01:43 Khalistan Government-in-Exile office in Vancouver in 1982 with limited local Sikh support.
01:50 In June 1985, Canada suffered its most horrific act of ferocity when the Babbar Khalsa group
01:55 orchestrated the bombing of Air India Kanishka, resulting in 331 civilian deaths, including
02:01 80 children.
02:03 Investigations revealed that Talwinder Singh Parmar, who headed the Babbar Singh Khalsa
02:07 in Punjab, had masterminded the bombing.
02:11 What is the Khalistan movement?
02:13 The Khalistan movement is a fight for a separate, sovereign Sikh state in present-day Punjab
02:18 in both India and Pakistan.
02:21 The demand has resurfaced many times, most prominently during a violent insurgency in
02:26 the 1970s and 1980s, which paralysed Punjab for over a decade.
02:31 The movement was crushed in India following Operation Blue Star in 1984 and Operation
02:36 Black Thunder in 1986 and 1988.
02:39 But it continues to get sympathy and support among sections of the Sikh population, especially
02:43 in the Sikh diaspora in countries such as Canada, the UK and Australia.
02:49 In recent times, there have been quite a few anti-India activities in Canada that have
02:53 upset India.
02:55 In June 2023, a parade in Brampton, Ontario, seems to celebrate the assassination of former
03:00 Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, displaying a blood-stained figure and advocating revenge
03:05 for the attack on Darbar Sahib.
03:08 In 2022, the Sikhs for Justice, a pro-Khalistan organisation, conducted a so-called referendum
03:13 on Khalistan in Brampton, claiming significant support.
03:18 In 2002, the Toronto-based Punjabi-language weekly Sanjh Savera greeted Indira Gandhi's
03:23 10th anniversary with a cover illustration celebrating her murder, glorifying those responsible.
03:29 The magazine received government advertisements and is now a prominent daily newspaper in
03:33 Canada.
03:34 Indian diplomats based in Canada have on many occasions said that Canada's failure to tackle
03:40 Sikh extremism and the constant harassment of Indian diplomats and officials by Khalistanis
03:45 is a major foreign policy stretch point.
03:48 The Indian Prime Minister also raised strong concerns about Sikh protests in Canada and
03:53 the Canadian PM on the sidelines of this recent G20 summit in New Delhi.
03:58 On its part, Canada has paused talks on a proposed trade treaty with India.
04:03 But there have also been other points of contention between India and Canada.
04:07 The rift between the two nations became apparent as early as 1948 when Canada supported a plebiscite
04:13 in Kashmir.
04:14 In 1998, Ottawa recalled its High Commissioner to India following nuclear tests.
04:20 In recent times, PM Modi, in power since 2014, and Justin Trudeau, who assumed leadership
04:25 of Canada a year later, have been at odds over the issue of Khalistani extremism.
04:31 After appointing four Sikhs to his 30-member cabinet in 2015, Trudeau boasted about having
04:36 more Sikhs in his ministry than PM Modi.
04:39 With over 7.7 lakh Sikhs constituting approximately 2 per cent of Canada's total population, the
04:45 Sikh community holds significant political influence in Canada, boasting 18 Sikh MPs
04:50 in the Canadian Parliament in 2018, surpassing the 13 Sikh MPs in India.
04:55 The militancy in Punjab during the 1980s also had repercussions in Canada.
05:00 India's handling of individuals like Talweer Singh Parmar, accused of terrorism in Punjab,
05:05 was criticised by India.
05:07 In 2017, then Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh refused to meet Canadian Defence
05:12 Minister Harjeet Singh Sajjan, accusing him of associating with separatists.
05:17 A year later, Trudeau got a lukewarm reception during his visit to India when he was received
05:21 at the airport by Minister of State for Agriculture Gajendra Singh Shekhawat instead of PM Modi.
05:27 India was further aggravated when Jaswal Atwal, convicted of attempting to assassinate an
05:32 Indian cabinet minister in 1986, was invited to dine with Trudeau, even though the invitation
05:37 was later withdrawn.
05:38 In 2020, India accused Trudeau of inciting extremists when he expressed concerns about
05:45 New Delhi's response to the farmers' protest, pledging support for their rights.
05:49 In March of 2022, Trudeau's Liberal Party formed an alliance with the New Democratic
05:54 Party led by Jagmeet Singh, who openly endorsed the Khalistan referendum on Canadian soil.
06:00 Despite the diplomatic challenges over the years, India is Canada's 10th largest trading
06:04 partner.
06:05 Bilateral trade between India and Canada stands at $5 billion.
06:11 More than 400 Canadian companies have a presence in India and more than 1,000 companies are
06:15 actively pursuing business in the Indian market.
06:19 Unpensioned funds have pledged over $55 billion in investments between 2014 and 2020.
06:26 Canada and India are working toward a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement and a Foreign
06:31 Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement.
06:33 There are other significant investments in the development and energy sectors as well.
06:40 Keeping in mind the trade and investment involvement between the two countries and more importantly
06:44 the people-to-people contact, India and Canada have no choice but to find a way past the
06:49 current disagreements.
06:51 India has effectively conveyed to Canada that they cannot simultaneously have good relations
06:55 with India while allowing anti-India separatist movements on their soil.
06:59 The Canadian government, on the other hand, has political compulsions.
07:02 There are thousands of Khalistan supporters among their voters and they contribute significantly
07:07 to political and government funding.
07:09 The only way forward is constructive and sustained engagement.
07:12 (upbeat music)
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