Prabjot Singh*

Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand recently led an official visit to New Delhi where she launched a “New Roadmap for Canada-India Relations.” While the ensuing joint statement talked about the relationship being based on a “mutual respect for shared democratic values,” the Canadian approach has been based on flawed logic with the potential to yield disastrous results.

Public rhetoric justifying Canada’s rapprochement with India revolves around India’s perceived role as a growing economic power packaged beneath a veneer of shared democratic values. Peering behind the paper-thin curtain of this narrative however, the Government of India is actually being trailed by a dark cloud of violence. Over the past two years, the United States Department of Justice (USDOJ), the Government of Canada, and the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) have levelled damning allegations that Indian officials have been overseeing a global assassination program targeting Sikh dissidents.

In September 2023, then-prime minister Justin Trudeau revealed that there is intelligence of Indian involvement in the assassination of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a longtime activist for an independent Khalistan. Before the dust could settle, the USDOJ unsealed an indictment outlining India’s attempted assassination of another pro-Khalistan activist in the U.S. Media reports also disclosed intelligence about the assassination of Paramjit Singh Panjwar in Lahore, Pakistan, while Sikhs in the United Kingdom continue calling for an inquest into the death of Avtar Singh Khanda.

Canadian officials later confirmed that a co-ordinated wave of violence was supervised by India’s Home Affairs Minister Amit Shah. Special rapporteurs appointed by the UNHRC subsequently expressed “grave concern at reports of continuing, systematic attacks by the Indian authorities on Sikh activists” in an attempt to “silence Sikh political activism.” Justice Marie-Josée Hogue’s final report for the Foreign Interference Commission also identified the “800,000 members of the Sikh diaspora” in Canada as the main targets of India’s transnational repression.

Based on this rapid succession of events, India seems to be leveraging its geostrategic importance to carry out extrajudicial killings against political opponents on foreign soil—clearly undermining international law and any pretence of a rules-based international order. While some commentators frame this issue in terms of a choice between idealistic human rights values versus strategic interests and hard power, the reality is that ignoring India’s violence will have dangerous consequences for stability, prosperity, and security as a whole in the broader Indo-Pacific region.

Artificially compartmentalizing Canada’s economic relationship with India, separate from the political relationship, is a fraught approach. Minimizing India’s actions will inevitably embolden its Hindu nationalist government, marginalizing religious minorities and suppressing political dissidents. This will inevitably deepen the threat of insecurity in the region.

At the dawn of the 20th century, India was celebrated as the “crown jewel” of the British Empire because of its strategic importance. Today, it appears that the subcontinent will continue to be a flashpoint where the future balance of global power is contested and negotiated. Canada’s Indo-Pacific Strategy clearly lays out its view that India is a “critical partner in Canada’s pursuit of its objectives” in the region. It appears that this priority is also behind Prime Minister Mark Carney’s misguided decision to begin restoring diplomatic ties despite a lack of any public accountability for India’s alleged crimes in Canada.

Instead of transparency, accountability, and international co-operation, India consistently resorts to belligerent diplomatic rhetoric and disinformation campaigns to undermine the credibility of partners and international bodies.

If this aggressive trajectory is not challenged, former UN special rapporteur on minority issues Fernand de Varennes has raised the alarm that: “India risks becoming one of the world’s main generators of instability, atrocities, and violence.” This was bolstered by the UNHRC communication, expressing concern that India’s attacks are contributing to the “hostile environment in Punjab.”

Left unchecked, India’s increasingly repressive actions will inevitably accelerate internal tensions and conflicts with broader ramifications across the region as tensions between India and Pakistan continue to simmer.

Ultimately, no one can achieve their strategic interests in the Indo-Pacific by courting a violent regime responsible for extrajudicial violence against political opponents. Lasting security and prosperity can only be guaranteed by ensuring that meaningful democratization, universal human rights, and public accountability are at the heart of its political future.

* Prabjot Singh is legal counsel for the Sikh Federation (Canada), and has represented a coalition of Sikh organizations participating in Canada’s Foreign Interference Commission.

** Note: This write-up was originally published by The Hill Times under the title “India is not the strategic partner Canada thinks it is”. It is reproduced here for the information of readers of Sikh Siyasat News. SSN thanks the original publisher and the author, and extends full credit and courtesy.