Protest against PM Modi in front of Calgary City Hall on June 16, 2025 in Calgary, Alberta.
| Photo Credit: Getty Images via AFP
Canada doubled down on allegations of a link between the Indian government and the Nijjar killing, while acknowledging for the first time that Canada-Based Khalistani Extremists (CBKE) continue to plan and fund violence in India in a report released on Wednesday (June 18, 2025).
The Canadian Security and Intelligence Service (CSIS), which named India, along with China, Iran, Pakistan and Russia as the “main perpetrators of foreign interference and espionage against Canada”, was released online on Wednesday (June 18, 2025), a day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi met with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney at the G7 Summit outreach in Kananaskis and agreed to restore High Commissioners and a number of dialogue mechanisms. It was tabled by the CSIS in the Canadian Parliament last week.
The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) declined to comment on the report, which indicates that while Canada is taking note of India’s concerns over Khalistani groups more than in the past, it maintains its allegations over the Nijjar killing and other accusations of foreign interference, including Transnational Repression (TNR), which New Delhi has repeatedly denied.
“Links between the Government of India and the Nijjar murder signal a significant escalation in India’s repression efforts against the Khalistan movement and a clear intent to target individuals in North America,” the CSIS annual report for 2024, marking “Forty years of national security” said. Referring to the continuing investigation into the murder of Khalistani activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar, who was gunned down at a gurdwara outside Toronto in June 2023, the CSIS said four individuals were arrested in May 2024 and charged with first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder and criminal proceedings were underway. It said investigations “point to a link between agents of the Government of India and criminal networks to sow violent activity in South Asian communities in Canada”, adding that six Indian diplomats were expelled to “disrupt this network”. In October 2024, the Canadian government expelled India’s High Commissioner Sanjay Kumar Verma and five other embassy officials on charges linked to the case, which India roundly denied, expelling six Canadian diplomats.
The report added Canada-based Khalistani extremist groups for the first time to its section on Politically Motivated Violent Extremism (PMVE), indicating that the CSIS is taking India’s complaints about violence from these groups more seriously than before, which has been a source of New Delhi’s long-held grievance against Ottawa. However, it said that while “some” of Khalistani separatist supporters took part in legitimate protests and other activities, “only a small group of individuals are considered Khalistani extremists because they continue to use Canada as a base for the promotion, fundraising or planning of violence primarily in India”.
The CSIS found no attacks in Canada in 2024 carried out by these groups, but said their ongoing involvement in violent activities “continues to pose a national security threat to Canada and Canadian interests”, an assessment which will find favour in India.
Be vigilant, says report
The report said Canada “must remain vigilant about continued foreign interference conducted by the Government of India, not only within ethnic, religious and cultural communities but also in Canada’s political system,” referring to an official Commission’s allegations against New Delhi of political interference and the alleged “use of proxies” to influence elections by the Indian government in January this year. The MEA had denied these allegations, saying it was Canada that interfered in India’s internal activities rather than the other way around.
New Delhi is expected to also protest a politically-charged comment in the latest CSIS report that links its allegations on transnational repression with India’s 2024 election outcomes and the Modi government’s “Hindu-nationalist policy agenda” in particular. “Prime Minister Modi and his core Ministers and advisers are keen to build India’s global influence and counter any activity they consider as ‘anti-India,’ at home or abroad, in the name of domestic stability and prosperity,” the report said. It conceded that India’s history of calling Canada a “haven for anti-India activity” was rooted in the 1985 Air India ‘Kanishka’ flight bombing and subsequent terrorist activity in India, but added that this perception continues to “drive Indian foreign interference activities” in Canada.
The CSIS report said Pakistan too had attempted to interfere in Canadian politics, by helping “pro-Pakistan” candidates over those seen as “Pro-India” and also carried out TNR activities to suppress Pakistani dissidents and critics in the country.
Published – June 19, 2025 10:01 pm IST