Commentary: The grave charge facing India over a Sikh leader’s murder in Canada
Editorial Desk :
If India does not assist Canada in unraveling the murder of a Sikh leader, Hardeep Singh Nijjar, on Canadian soil, it will seriously dent India’s global image as a democratic country that is supposed to respect international law.
Before the parliament this week, Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau not only put the blame on Indian agents for the murder, it has also expelled India’s top man of its intelligence department, RAW, from Canada for his alleged involvement.
India, however, has vehemently denied Canada’s allegation calling it ‘absurd’ and ‘politically motivated’ and taken counter steps including refusing visas to Canadian citizens accusing Canada of harbouring terrorists.
After India, Canada hosts the most Sikh population in the world, and Sikhs are demanding for a long time a separate homeland of their own, Khalistan, in India’s Punjab province and India has branded these secessionists as terrorists.
With the ongoing tit-for-tat between two countries and their diplomatic relations reaching the bottom rock over the last few days, Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau on 23 Sept revealed, at a press conference with Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelenskyy that weeks ago he had shared with India ‘credible’ evidence linking India’s hands in the murder of Hardeep Singh.
The New York Times revealed yesterday the name of the country – the US – that shared intelligence with Canada on India’s official involvement in the killing of Sikh leader.
The US and four other countries the UK, Australia, New Zealand and Canada form a group, Five Eyes, that share intelligence with each other.
Responding to Canada’s allegation and in line with Canada’s demand, the US publicly called on India to help Canada investigate the murder of Sikh leader.
The US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, while speaking about this at a press conference at the United Nations General Assembly in New York on Friday, clearly stressed the importance of accountability and urged India to support a full investigation.
Canada’s allegation of killing Hardeep Singh Nijjar on June 18 has already presented India as a country that can conduct a targeted, extrajudicial killing on foreign soil which is a flagrant violation of the international law.
If it does not cooperate with Canada and come clean after an investigation, India will have to stomach this bitter truth that by killing the Sikh leader it has violated the UN Charter that stipulates “all members shall refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state”.
However, in the past there have been many instances when powerful countries singled out individuals of other countries and killed them.
Hardeep Singh was a citizen of Canada, a prominent country of the world, and if Justin Trudeau pursues the Sikh murder doggedly and settles the score, it will clearly set an example in the international arena.
A country cannot kill a citizen of another country on its soil if it can do it. Countries, big or small, must respect each other’s sovereignty through exercise of accountability.
Bangladesh has reasons to feel concerned because presence of Indian RAW here is an openly known fact.