WASHINGTON: The United States (US) has termed as “concerning” Canada’s accusations that India’s Home Minister Amit Shah was behind the plots to target Sikh activists and leaders on Canadian soil, adding that it would continue to consult Ottawa on this issue.
“The accusations made by Canada are concerning, and we will continue to consult with the government of Canada regarding those accusations,” State Department Spokesperson Matthew Miller told media persons at his daily news briefing.
Earlier, on Tuesday, Canadian authorities alleged that Amit Shah, a close associate of India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi, was behind a campaign of violence and intimidation attacking Sikh leaders and separatists in Canada.
Canadian Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister David Morrison has said to a parliamentary panel that he told The Washington Post, that Indian Minister Shah was behind the plots.
Sikh separatists and activists demand an independent country of Khalistan to be carved out of India. An insurgency in India from the 1980s to 1990s killed tens of thousands, according to media reports.
That period included the 1984 anti-Sikh riots that left thousands of dead after the assassination of then-prime minister Indira Gandhi by her Sikh bodyguards following, she ordered security forces to storm the holiest Sikh temple to flush out Sikh separatists.
Canada in mid-October also expelled Indian diplomats, connecting them to the 2023 murder of Sikh separatist leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar on Canadian land. India has also ordered the expulsion of diplomats from Canada. The Canadian case is not the only example of India’s alleged attacking of Sikh separatists on foreign land.
The US has also charged a former Indian intelligence officer, Vikash Yadav, for directing a foiled plot to kill Sikh separatist leader Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, a dual US-Canadian national and Indian critic in New York. The FBI has also warned against such a retaliation aimed at a US resident.
