The Canadian government had on Tuesday, alleged that the Indian Minister of Home Affairs Amit Shah, a close colleague of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, was behind the plots to target Sikh separatists on Canadian soil – a claim the Indian government promptly dismissed, tagging the accusations as baseless and denying any involvement.
The Washington Post newspaper had first reported that Canadian officials claimed Shah (considered the number two in the Modi government) was behind a campaign of violence and intimidation aimed at Sikh separatists in Canada.
David Morrison, the Canadian Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister had said to a parliamentary panel on Tuesday that he told the U.S.-based newspaper that Shah was responsible for the plots.
Meanwhile, the Indian home ministry has directed queries to the foreign ministry.
An anonymous Indian government source had told Reuters in New Delhi on Wednesday that Canada had informed India about Shah’s reported role in the plots around October 2023.
India has labelled Sikh separatists “terrorists” adding they were threats to its security. Sikh separatists had even called for an independent homeland known as Khalistan to be split from India. That insurgency in India had killed tens of thousands in the 1980s and 1990s.
That period included the 1984 anti-Sikh riots that left thousands dead following the assassination of the then-Prime Minister Indira Gandhi by her Sikh bodyguards after she directed security forces to ambush the holiest Sikh temple to flush out Sikh separatists.
