India’s double standard in dealing with US and Canada | Faraz Ahmad

The Government of India is facing a charge from the United States of America (USA) and its northern neighbour Canada simultaneously of indulging in contract killing of two different Sikhs, Gurpatwant Singh Panun and Hardeep Singh Nijjar.

But a stark difference is evident in Modi government’s approach to allegations from these two countries. The reaction to the USA allegation of the Indian intelligence authorities hiring killers to kill Panun is marked by diffidence and near reverence. Appointing a high-powered committee to address the allegation and despatching it post haste to the US. And that, when Panun sheltered by the US was running a campaign in the name of ‘Sikhs for Justice’ seeking the creation of a Sikh Khalistan state. But dare we dismiss US charge off hand? No way. After all it is Uncle Sam.

The allegations from Canada and the US are similar with only one difference. Canadian Prime Minister and his government are accusing the Government of India of being complicit through hired killers in the killing of a Canadian citizen Hardeep Singh Nijjar a priest at the Guru Nanak Sikh Gurudwara at Surrey, British Columbia. No doubt he was lobbying and actively campaigning like Gurpatwant Singh along with him sitting in Canada, for the creation of an independent Sikh nation, Khalistan carved out of Indian Punjab. But insofar as that Nijjar’s crime in the eyes of the Indian government was the same as that of Gurpatwant—sedition and treason against the Indian state. The case of Nijjar is even more serious than the case relating to Gurpatwant in the eyes of the country (read Canada) to which Nijjar belonged because Nijjar was murdered on Canadian soil, raising questions on the competence of Canadian government to provide security to its citizens. But has the Government of India reacted identically to the same set of allegations? No. The group of Five Eyes, comprising Canada, USA, UK, Australia and New Zealand view both the crimes equally severely.

But we don’t. On September 9-10, 2023 when US president Joe Biden and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau were both here to attend the G20 Summit the Indian Government held with much fanfare, Biden took up with Prime Minister Modi the attempted murder through hired killers of Gurpatwant Singh Pannu while Trudeau similarly raised the murder of Nijjar again by killers allegedly hired by the Indian deep state.

Our reaction to these two allegations was strikingly and sharply different. Trudeau was made to prolong his stay disturbing his schedule with sections of our embedded media even alleging, quoting unnamed sources that drugs were found in Trudeau’s official aeroplane. First Trudeau was offered to be flown in an Indian Air Force (IAF) plane back to Ottawa. But when Trudeau rejected the offer, his plane was released and nothing more was known about these allegations. But that was the first sign of this government belligerence to the Canadian Prime Minister raising an issue which displeased Modi. Trudeau however persisted with the allegations and eventually this month our long and strong diplomatic relations with Canada broke with Canada expelling our High Commissioner there along with other senior High Commission officers.

The Canadian government accused that Nijjar’s murder was committed by killers hired at the instance of Indian government and named even Union Home Minister Amit Shah behind this conspiracy. It also alleged that a meeting between seniormost Canadian and Indian officers was held in Singapore attended by India’s National Security Adviser (NSA) Ajit Doval, a close confidant of Prime Minister Modi. Doval, according to reports appearing in western media quoting Canadian sources, while insisting that his name should not appear anywhere, pointed his finger at underworld don Lawrence Bishoni serving jail sentence in Sabarmati jail in Gujarat, India. According to this report Bishnoi’s influence spreads right upto Canada and the US. Incidentally on Saturday October 12 Baba Siddiqui a Congress/NCP leader and a well known face of Mumbai glamour world, was gunned down by three gunmen men in broad daylight right outside his son’s office in Nirmal Nagar, Bandra East. The Police claimed the gunmen were contract killers hired by Lawrence Bishnoi. But a week later the Mumbai/Maharashtra Police has not been able to lay its hands on Bishnoi relaxing in safe and secure environs of Sabarmati jail in Gujarat. Shows his close connection with the present day government.

As for the expulsion of diplomats, we reciprocated with the same alacrity and expelled the same number of Canadian officers including their acting High Commissioner. India has reacted with denials when it comes to the Canadian charge, Doval’s supposed private disclosures to the Canadian investigators, notwithstanding.

Now compare this with the Gurpatwant Singh case. By contrast here Indian reaction is characterised by genuflecting and grovelling before the mighty USA. We dare not turn around and ask the US why it is sheltering an enemy of India. Instead, we seem to be weighing our options of how to deal with a former Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW) officer Vikas Yadav, named by the US agency the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI). The Indian government promised immediate action. In December, 2023, a couple of weeks after Biden took this up with Modi during the G20 meet, Vikas Yadav was arrested by the Delhi Police Special Cell on the complaint of some Rohini business man’s allegations of extortion, kidnapping and threat of murder. He was granted interim bail on March 22 by the Additional Sessions Judge of Patiala House court on the ground that his one-year old daughter was ill and “that the accused is an ex-government employee having clean antecedents…”
It appears that at the moment Vikas Yadav is out on bail. Meanwhile, External Affairs ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal, while replying to newsmen’s query on Vikas Yadav identified in the indictment of the US Department of Justice (DoJ) in the failed conspiracy to kill Gurpatwant Singh Panun in the US cursorily sufficed to say the person is "no longer an employee of the government of India.”

All right. But that means he was when according to the US (DoJ) the conspiracy was hatched just before Prime Minister Narendra Modi went to the US. Now what if the US demands extradition of Vikas Yadav, who going by the US accusation could not have acted this far on his own volition. And what if he is extradited and starts spilling the beans about larger involvement in this conspiracy? Sounds ominous.