Canada Expels Indian diplomat after accusing India of killing their citizen on Canadian Soil

[jaichind]

https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/punjab/hardeep-singh-nijjar-fled-to-canada-on-fake-passport-in-1997-545930

"Hardeep Singh Nijjar fled to Canada on fake passport in 1997"

Hardeep Singh Nijjar, whose killing in June, has led to a diplomatic row between India and Canada, fled India in February 1997 using the name ‘Ravi Sharma’ on a fake passport.

Several terror-related incidents, including targeted killings in Punjab, are alleged to have been carried out by Nijjar. His name figured on the most-wanted list handed over by then Punjab CM Captain Amarinder Singh to Canadian PM Justin Trudeau in February 2018.

[MaxQue]

https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/punjab/hardeep-singh-nijjar-fled-to-canada-on-fake-passport-in-1997-545930

"Hardeep Singh Nijjar fled to Canada on fake passport in 1997"

Hardeep Singh Nijjar, whose killing in June, has led to a diplomatic row between India and Canada, fled India in February 1997 using the name ‘Ravi Sharma’ on a fake passport.

Several terror-related incidents, including targeted killings in Punjab, are alleged to have been carried out by Nijjar. His name figured on the most-wanted list handed over by then Punjab CM Captain Amarinder Singh to Canadian PM Justin Trudeau in February 2018.

Yes, that has been established already, as his multiple rejected asylum requests and him obtaining citizenship in 2015.

[Zinneke]

Political assassinations on foreign soil happen, and this guy appears to be a pretty reckless fellow and hardly an angel, but I think people need to realize that if Trudeau and other Western nations don’t stop this kind of thing, entire diasporas will be intimidated by their state security services of their respective “home countries”...In China and India, foreign state “official cover” embassy staff are not given the leeway they have in Western countries, and these authoritarian states have naturally decided to exploit this in order to intimidate their diaspora for speaking out against them. Here in Brussels it's well known that the Morroccan diaspora is intimidated and ordered to go to specific Mosques, and the results are there to be seen, a total failure of integration into Belgian society.

You may think this is an isolated incident but it will continue to get worse if Western political leaders don’t stick up for the rights of the people inside their borders (a novel concept for many of them who prefer to network at various state-funded “conferences” or the UN to get their next private sector gig or integrate a cocaine and hookers party lifestyle). I’m sure Western NOC agents have committed political assisination before, but the levels and scale that Chinese, Indian and other authoritarian powers are dedicating to control diasporas and eliminate dissenters within them is unprecedented.

[jaichind]

This is already a political winner for Modi and will most likely be a bigger winner in the future.  Just like the assassination of Osama Bin Laden on Pakistan soil was a winner for Obama with no one in the USA electorate caring about the technicality of violating Pakistan's sovereignty.  Modi does have to deal with diplomatic blowback from Canada but if he can perry it it will be a bigger winner for him since it will play into Modi's domestic narrative that Modi has put India into the ranks of one of the Great Powers in the world that now can bulldoze second rate powers like Canada.

[jaichind]

When I watch Indian media, their narrative is

1) Trudeau is isolated internationally as none of their allies are speaking against India.
2) Trudeau is isolated domestically as the opposition is attacking his policies toward India
3) Large upsurge threats against Hindus in Canada
4) Trudeau  is already backtracking and will turn tail soon

[lfromnj]

Trudeau should use this to restrict Indian immigration if he had any brain.

[Хahar 🤔]

Advisory for Indian Nationals and Indian Students in Canada

This is a pretty standard part of the Indian government's playbook. I wrote last year about the public relations strategy of Hindu nationalism, which includes using social justice language. In this case, the Indian government almost exactly a year ago issued a warning in substantially the same language about "a sharp increase in incidents of hate crimes, sectarian violence and anti-India activities in Canada." This is a neat rhetorical trick, classifying opposition to the Indian government as though it were equivalent to physical violence.

Obviously anyone with even the slightest familiarity with North American culture knows that that warning was a disgraceful lie. In the year since it was issued, I am not aware of a single "anti-Hindu hate crime" in Canada, unless criticizing the Indian government counts as a hate crime. To some extent this is targeted at Indian students in Canada who don't know any better in an attempt to isolate them from their surroundings, but mostly it's all intended for domestic consumption. The point here is to show Indians that the world is full of enemies from whom only Modiji can save the nation, and so enemies are being invented for that purpose.

As for the position of Canada in all of this, recall that Justin Trudeau has publicly acknowledged that the Canadian state is currently committing genocide. The Canadian approach is to use very big words and then do nothing. I expect for that to happen here. I cannot imagine that there will be any actual consequences to the Indian government's murder of a Canadian citizen on Canadian soil.

[jaichind]

https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/nia-announces-reward-on-canada-based-khalistani-terrorist-lakhbir-landa-4-others-101695223945084.html

"NIA announces reward on Canada based Khalistani terrorist Lakhbir Landa, 4 others"

India's counter-terrorism agency National Investigation Agency just put out a "wanted list" of 43 "Khalistani-gangsters" with announced cash rewards.   It seems a bunch of them are hiding in Canada.
This is getting a lot of coverage in Indian media as part next step in India's escalation on the Khalistan issue.

[MaxQue]

When I watch Indian media, their narrative is

1) Trudeau is isolated internationally as none of their allies are speaking against India.
2) Trudeau is isolated domestically as the opposition is attacking his policies toward India
3) Large upsurge threats against Hindus in Canada
4) Trudeau  is already backtracking and will turn tail soon

Well, 2, 3 and 4 are plain lies, but remember that Indian media is always at danger of losing their licences/attacks by Hindu supremacists if they don't follow Modi's agenda.

[jaichind]

Obviously anyone with even the slightest familiarity with North American culture knows that that warning was a disgraceful lie. In the year since it was issued, I am not aware of a single "anti-Hindu hate crime" in Canada, unless criticizing the Indian government counts as a hate crime. To some extent this is targeted at Indian students in Canada who don't know any better in an attempt to isolate them from their surroundings, but mostly it's all intended for domestic consumption. The point here is to show Indians that the world is full of enemies from whom only Modiji can save the nation, and so enemies are being invented for that purpose.

When I did some research on what the Indian media says about "threats to Hindus" in Canada I found

https://www.hindustantimes.com/world-news/nijjar-killing-sikhs-for-justice-asks-hindus-of-indian-origin-to-leave-canada-101695183977090.html

"Nijjar killing: Sikhs for Justice asks Hindus of Indian origin to leave Canada"

Sikhs for Justice (SFJ), a pro-Khalistan organisation banned in India in 2019, has threatened Hindus of Indian origin and asked them to leave Canada for supporting the country of their origin and “promoting violence” by celebrating Khalistani leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar’s killing.

[jaichind]

Just to be clear.  Even the anti-BJP part of the Indian media (mostly English-speaking) is attacking Trudeau even while they avoid praising Modi on this issue.

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

Obviously anyone with even the slightest familiarity with North American culture knows that that warning was a disgraceful lie. In the year since it was issued, I am not aware of a single "anti-Hindu hate crime" in Canada, unless criticizing the Indian government counts as a hate crime. To some extent this is targeted at Indian students in Canada who don't know any better in an attempt to isolate them from their surroundings, but mostly it's all intended for domestic consumption. The point here is to show Indians that the world is full of enemies from whom only Modiji can save the nation, and so enemies are being invented for that purpose.

When I did some research on what the Indian media says about "threats to Hindus" in Canada I found

https://www.hindustantimes.com/world-news/nijjar-killing-sikhs-for-justice-asks-hindus-of-indian-origin-to-leave-canada-101695183977090.html

"Nijjar killing: Sikhs for Justice asks Hindus of Indian origin to leave Canada"

Sikhs for Justice (SFJ), a pro-Khalistan organisation banned in India in 2019, has threatened Hindus of Indian origin and asked them to leave Canada for supporting the country of their origin and “promoting violence” by celebrating Khalistani leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar’s killing.

Fake it until you make it, is that what the Indian government is aiming for?

[OSR stands with Israel]

Just to be clear.  Even the anti-BJP part of the Indian media (mostly English-speaking) is attacking Trudeau even while they avoid praising Modi on this issue.

Foreign policy is usually an issue that tends to have bipartisan consensus regardless of country unless the country gets dragged into a conflict that’s not going well.

[OSR stands with Israel]

https://twitter.com/TajinderBagga/status/1704517272336060724?s=20

[Aurelius2]

This feels like one of those things that's so extreme that you don't do it unless you have serious proof, so I'm definitely holding off on condemning Canada right now.

Yeah, I'm at a loss here of what to believe. On one hand, overseas assassinations in western countries are simply not in Modi's (or India's) playbook. On the other hand, regardless of what I think of Trudeau, lying about this does not seem like something he would do.

Either India's fopo playbook has radically changed and they're suddenly doing things that only pariah states and superpowers can get away with, or Trudeau is making up a giant lie and creating an international incident for the sake of trying to create a "rally around the flag" support bump and distract from the housing/COL crisis in light of his recent polling collapse. I'm much more inclined to believe the former than the latter.

[TiltsAreUnderrated]

This feels like one of those things that's so extreme that you don't do it unless you have serious proof, so I'm definitely holding off on condemning Canada right now.

Yeah, I'm at a loss here of what to believe. On one hand, overseas assassinations in western countries are simply not in Modi's (or India's) playbook.

On the other hand, regardless of what I think of Trudeau, lying about this does not seem like something he would do.

Either India's fopo playbook has radically changed and they're suddenly doing things that only pariah states and superpowers can get away with, or Trudeau is making up a giant lie and creating an international incident for the sake of trying to create a "rally around the flag" support bump and distract from the housing/COL crisis in light of his recent polling collapse. I'm much more inclined to believe the former than the latter.

Assassinations in the region were already in Modi's playbook, and said playbook will continue to grow worse as the man himself does with the encouragement of much of the country. It suits the BJP's domestic political agenda to exaggerate the profile of their enemies.

You don't need to be a superpower to get away with this sort of thing - if Israel could get away with it, why not India? And I'm only referring to the publicly known cases here. There must be some number of state-sanctioned assassinations carried out quietly that either go undetected or, for diplomatic reasons, are left unacknowledged. It's usually the unnecessarily brutal or botched ones that cause international tensions (I'm thinking of Khashoggi's case, which did not ultimately lead to the isolation of Saudi Arabia).

[OSR stands with Israel]

This feels like one of those things that's so extreme that you don't do it unless you have serious proof, so I'm definitely holding off on condemning Canada right now.

Yeah, I'm at a loss here of what to believe. On one hand, overseas assassinations in western countries are simply not in Modi's (or India's) playbook. On the other hand, regardless of what I think of Trudeau, lying about this does not seem like something he would do.

Either India's fopo playbook has radically changed and they're suddenly doing things that only pariah states and superpowers can get away with, or Trudeau is making up a giant lie and creating an international incident for the sake of trying to create a "rally around the flag" support bump and distract from the housing/COL crisis in light of his recent polling collapse. I'm much more inclined to believe the former than the latter.

The opposition in India is backing Modi on this and neither the US and especially the UK are really backing up Canada either . It’s looking like Trudeau tried to exploit the situation for political gain and he’s not really getting any backing at all .

The reason though why Trudeau isn’t getting international backing is there is a belief that Canada has given harbor to Khalistanian terrorists for the past few decades so their is an argument to be made that this action wasn’t really that different than what the Mossad does for example .  The fact is we really don’t know what happened because neither side has released evidence and we should wait till we do .

[jaichind]

https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/nia-announces-reward-on-canada-based-khalistani-terrorist-lakhbir-landa-4-others-101695223945084.html

"NIA announces reward on Canada based Khalistani terrorist Lakhbir Landa, 4 others"

India's counter-terrorism agency National Investigation Agency just put out a "wanted list" of 43 "Khalistani-gangsters" with announced cash rewards.   It seems a bunch of them are hiding in Canada.
This is getting a lot of coverage in Indian media as part next step in India's escalation on the Khalistan issue.

As soon as NIA made a push with cash rewards for 43 Khalistan militants, some of them being in Canada, we have

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/who-was-sukhdool-singh-khalistani-extremist-killed-canada-gang-war/articleshow/103826565.cms

"Khalistani extremist Sukhdool Singh killed in gang-war in Canada"

He seems to have been killed in a gang war but the timing (right after NIA pushed out a list with his name on it with a reward, and that it is in Canada.

Again, this news is all over Indian media as another win for India.

[jaichind]

https://apnews.com/article/india-canada-visas-sikh-activist-killing-381e973e84f8d0c10b0bd53b03ccbdf2

"India suspends visa services in Canada and rift widens over killing of Canadian citizen"

[Ferguson97]

You have to be ridiculously gullible to believe Modi lol

[OSR stands with Israel]

You have to be ridiculously gullible to believe Modi lol

Except this isn’t just Modi

https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/countrys-concerns-paramount-congress-backs-centre-over-india-vs-canada-4402858

Liberal media outlets in India who are usually very anti Modi are backing him on this . Trudeau on the other hand was literally just rebuffed by the UK and the opposition in Canada is beginning to ask questions about this.

[CumbrianLefty]

Well our PM is not exactly Modi-unsympathetic is he.

[Ferguson97]

You have to be ridiculously gullible to believe Modi lol

Except this isn’t just Modi

https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/countrys-concerns-paramount-congress-backs-centre-over-india-vs-canada-4402858

Liberal media outlets in India who are usually very anti Modi are backing him on this . Trudeau on the other hand was literally just rebuffed by the UK and the opposition in Canada is beginning to ask questions about this.

I have no reason to trust the opposition in India any more than I trust Modi.

And secondly, the opposition in Canada are bad-faith actors. That they are “asking questions” is meaningless. As for the UK, it’s very important for them to remain in good ties with India, so they have incentive to distance themselves.

You’re not actually addressing the allegations themselves. You know that a Hindu  nationalist like Modi would be perfectly willing to do this.

[CumbrianLefty]

I don't like or trust Trudeau, but it remains a real stretch that he would just make something like this up - and I agree that citing the Indian opposition or other governments (who will often have their own reasons for wanting to stay sweet with Modi) as "proof" otherwise is pretty meaningless.

[OSR stands with Israel]

I don't like or trust Trudeau, but it remains a real stretch that he would just make something like this up - and I agree that citing the Indian opposition or other governments (who will often have their own reasons for wanting to stay sweet with Modi) as "proof" otherwise is pretty meaningless.

India has wanted to create its own Mossad for quite some time , stretching back before Modi too . They just have never been powerful enough to pull it off , but this is something either party in India would do .