India summons Canadian diplomat over 'Khalistan' slogans at Trudeau event

By Ahmad Adil

NEW DELHI (AA) - India said on Monday that it summoned a Canadian diplomat in response to separatist slogans "Khalistan" raised at an event attended by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

The Indian Foreign Ministry issued a statement on Monday evening confirming that the Canadian Deputy High Commissioner had been summoned. The statement expressed the government’s “deep concern and strong protest was conveyed at such disturbing actions being allowed to continue unchecked at the event.”

"This illustrates once again the political space that has been given in Canada to separatism, extremism and violence. Their continued expressions not only impact India-Canada relations but also encourage a climate of violence and criminality in Canada to the detriment of its own citizens," read the statement.

The summoning of the Canadian diplomat comes amid escalating tensions between the two countries since last June, when Trudeau publicly anounced that the Indian government was involved in the assassination of Canadian Sikh Hardeep Singh Nijjar in the province of British Columbia - a charge dismissed by the Indian Foreign Ministry as "absurd and motivated."

The Indian government had repeatedly labelled Nijjar a terrorist, a charge his supporters denied.

Nijjar was a vocal advocate of the movement which was launched by a faction of India’s Sikh community in the late 1970s, triggering a wave of deadly violence that claimed thousands of lives in the state of Punjab, where Sikhs are in the majority. While Sikh secessionism has largely died down in India, pro-Khalistan groups have remained active internationally.

Recently, India has criticized Canada for giving "space" to those promoting the Sikh independence movement, known as Khalistan.​​​​​​​