NEW DELHI/OTTAWA — Canada expelled six Indian diplomats including the high commissioner on Monday, linking them to the murder of a Sikh separatist leader and alleging a broader effort to target Indian dissidents in Canada.

Earlier in the day, India retaliated by ordering the expulsion of six high-ranking Canadian diplomats including the acting high commissioner and said it had withdrawn its envoy from Canada, contradicting Canada’s statement of expulsion.

The diplomatic row represents a major deterioration of relations between the two Commonwealth countries. Ties have been frayed since Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said last year, he had evidence linking Indian agents to the assassination of Sikh leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar on Canadian territory.

The government now has “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,” Mr. Trudeau said at a news conference.

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

“This is unacceptable,” he said, adding that India had committed a fundamental error by engaging in criminal activities in Canada.

India has long denied Mr. Trudeau’s accusations. On Monday, it dismissed Canada’s move on the inquiry and accused Mr. Trudeau of pursuing a “political agenda.”

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) said in an earlier news conference the government of India had undertaken a broad campaign against Indian dissidents including homicides and extortion. It had also used organized crime to target the South Asian community in Canada and interfered in democratic processes, police said.

“The decision to expel these individuals was made with great consideration and only after the RCMP gathered ample, clear and concrete evidence which identified six individuals as persons of interest in the Nijjar case,” the foreign ministry said in a statement.

India said it had asked six Canadian diplomats to leave by Saturday. The ministry also said it had summoned Acting High Commissioner in India Stewart Wheeler, currently Canada’s top diplomat in the South Asian country.

India said it was withdrawing its diplomats from Canada because it was not confident that their safety could be guaranteed.

“We have no faith in the current Canadian Government’s commitment to ensure their security. Therefore, the Government of India has decided to withdraw the High Commissioner and other targeted diplomats and officials,” India’s foreign ministry said in a statement.

MAJOR RUPTURE
Canada’s Foreign Minister Melanie Joly said the government had requested India to remove the diplomatic immunity of six diplomats so that the Canadian investigative agencies could question them regarding the allegations of criminal activity.

But since India did not co-operate, it had to expel the diplomats.

“We’re not seeking diplomatic confrontation with India,” she said. “But we will not sit quietly as agents of any country are linked to efforts to threaten, harass or even kill Canadians.”

Canada withdrew more than 40 diplomats from India in October 2023 after New Delhi asked Ottawa to reduce its diplomatic presence.

“We have gone from a rift to a major rupture in the relationship with India,” Fen Osler Hampson, professor of international relations at Ottawa’s Carleton University said in a telephone interview. “It is hard to see at this juncture that a return to normalcy will happen any time in the foreseeable future.”

Canada is home to the highest population of Sikhs outside their home state of Punjab and demonstrations in recent years have irked India’s government

The US has also alleged that Indian agents were involved in an attempted assassination plot against another Sikh separatist leader in New York last year and said it had indicted an Indian national working at the behest of an unnamed Indian government official. — Reuters

TAIPEI — Taiwan’s Defense ministry said on Tuesday it had detected a record number of 153 Chinese military aircraft participating in China’s war games around the island the previous day, detailing a surge in warplane activity.

China said the one-day drill, designated “Joint Sword-2024B,” was a warning against “separatist acts” after a national day speech last week by Taiwan President Lai Ching-te that Beijing had denounced.

The drills were not only a concern for Taiwan, but risked destabilizing the region, Premier Cho Jung-tai said.

“Any drills without prior warning will cause great disturbance to peace and stability in the entire region,” he told reporters in Taipei.

“China’s drills not only affect Taiwan’s neighborhood, but also seriously affect the entire international navigational rights and air and sea space, so attracted the attention of other countries.”

In a daily update on Chinese military activity around the island, Taiwan’s Defense ministry said it spotted 153 military aircraft, surpassing Monday’s figure of 125 it had called a one-day record.

A ministry map showed 28 of those aircraft had crossed the sensitive median line of the Taiwan Strait, which had previously served as an unofficial barrier, but one China says it does not recognize.

Other areas that saw activity were waters off the southeastern coast, home to a major Taiwan air base, and to its southwest, at the top part of the South China Sea, site of the Taiwan-controlled Pratas Islands.

Also spotted were 14 ships of the Chinese navy and 12 “official” vessels, the ministry said, referring to ships of the coast guard and similar agencies.

China’s drills prompted concern from the United States and its allies, with the Pentagon slamming them as “irresponsible, disproportionate, and destabilizing.”

China’s pressure attempts had only solidified support for Taipei, said Kuan Bi-ling, head of Taiwan’s Ocean Affairs Council, which runs the coast guard.

“China’s exercise, while intended to put military pressure on Taiwan and the international community, has backfired and led to greater international solidarity against China’s expansionist behavior,” she wrote on her Facebook page.

“Cross-Strait relations are no longer just cross-Strait relations; they are now at the heart of international relations in the Indo-Pacific.”

Taiwan rejects Beijing’s territorial claims, saying only the island’s people can decide their future. — Reuters