Canada, India ties plunge to lowest level over Sikh separatist murder
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Mr Hardeep Singh Nijjar was shot dead outside a Sikh temple in Surrey, British Columbia, on June 18.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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Relations between Ottawa and New Delhi are at their lowest, following a charge by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau
Here are some key dates in the Khalistan movement
1970s and 1980s
For some two decades, Khalistan insurgents plant bombs on buses and carry out targeted killings, mass murder and gun battles, taking the lives of tens of thousands – many of whom are moderate Sikhs.
A devotee taking a holy dip in a lake at the Golden Temple in Amritsar on Sept 22, 2023.
PHOTO: AFP
June 1-10, 1984
The Indian Army launches Operation Blue Star to remove Sikh militant Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale and other separatists from inside Amritsar’s Golden Temple, the holiest site in Sikhism. Bhindranwale is killed. It is estimated that 5,000 to 7,000 people, mostly civilians, are killed in the operation.
Then Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi (left) with Mr G. Ramachandran of the Singapore Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry during her visit to Singapore in 1966.
PHOTO: GEORGE ABRAHAM
Oct 31, 1984
Then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi is killed by two of her Sikh bodyguards, in revenge for Operation Blue Star. The assassination triggers a pogrom of Sikhs that kills 2,146 in Delhi alone, according to the Indian government, though the death toll is generally assumed to have been much higher.
June 23, 1985
A bomb explodes mid-air on Air India Flight 182 from Montreal to London, killing all 329 people on board in Canada’s worst mass murder. On the same day, another bomb about to be loaded onto an Air India flight at Tokyo’s Narita International Airport prematurely explodes, killing two baggage handlers.
Aug 10, 1986
General Arun S. Vaidya, a much-decorated army general who commanded Operation Blue Star, is killed by gunmen while in his car in the western Indian city of Pune.
Aug 31, 1995
Then Punjab Chief Minister Beant Singh is assassinated in a suicide bombing at a government building in state capital Chandigarh. The blast claims 17 other lives.
July 14, 2022
Sikh activist Ripudaman Singh Malik, who had been acquitted in 2005 over the 1985 Air India Flight 182 explosion, is shot dead in British Columbia.
March 19, 2023
Khalistan supporters pull down the national flag at the Indian High Commission building in London to protest against the month-long police search for Khalistan separatist Amritpal Singh and his associates in Punjab. Khalistan supporters also breach the security barriers, plant Khalistan flags and try to burn down the consulate in San Francisco.
Police separating Sikhs (left) protesting for the independence of Khalistan and pro-India counter-protesters in front of the Indian consulate in Toronto on July 8, 2023.
PHOTO: AFP
March 26, 2023
New Delhi summons the Canadian High Commissioner to India and expresses “strong concern” over protests by Khalistan supporters outside its missions. Hundreds of supporters had gathered on March 25 at the Indian consulate in Vancouver.
India’s Rapid Action Force personnel patrolling a street during a hunt for Sikh separatists in Amritsar on March 23, 2023.
PHOTO: AFP
April 23, 2023
Amritpal Singh, chief of Waris Punjab De, or Heirs of Punjab, is arrested after a month-long manhunt for fanning communal disharmony by demanding an independent Khalistan state.
June 18, 2023
Mr Hardeep Singh Nijjar killed in Surrey, British Columbia
Sept 18, 2023
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau tells the House of Commons that the country is “actively pursuing credible allegations” linking Indian government agents to the murder of Mr Nijjar. New Delhi calls the accusation “absurd and motivated”. Ottawa expels an Indian diplomat over the case, and New Delhi retaliates by expelling a Canadian diplomat. New Delhi also asks Canada to reduce the number of diplomats in India.
