The UK has said India needs to co-operate with Canada’s investigation into the murder of a Sikh leader in British Columbia – after the two countries expelled each other’s diplomats over the issue.

Tensions between India and Canada, nominally friends, have been strained since Canadian citizen and prominent Sikh separatist leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar was gunned down in his car by masked men as he left a Sikh temple in Surrey, BC, in June 2023.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said in September last year there were “credible allegations” the Indian government was linked to the assassination.

India rejected the accusation as “absurd” and told Canada to remove 41 of its 62 diplomats from the country.

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Canada is home to about 770,000 Sikhs, the largest Sikh diaspora outside Punjab. Delhi has criticised Ottawa over the years for failing to oppose the pro-Khalistan movement, which calls for a separate Sikh state in India.

On Monday, tensions ramped up further as Canada expelled six senior Indian diplomats, including the high commissioner Sanjay Kumar Verma, after police uncovered evidence of ongoing violent criminal activity linked to India’s government, according to a senior Canadian government official.

India then ordered the expulsion of six Canadian diplomats, and said it was withdrawing Mr Verma. India’s ministry of external affairs said it had “no faith in the current Canadian government’s commitment to ensure their security”.

The tensions place the UK somewhat in the middle, with India and Canada both part of the Commonwealth, the UK and Canada in the G7 and NATO and the UK and India sharing a defence partnership and a possible free trade deal.

On Monday, Sir Keir Starmer and Mr Trudeau spoke to each other over the phone where they discussed “recent developments regarding allegations under investigation in Canada”, Downing Street said.

The Foreign Office has now said: “We are in contact with our Canadian partners about the serious developments outlined in the independent investigations in Canada.

“The UK has full confidence in Canada’s judicial system. Respect for sovereignty and the rule of law is essential.

“The government of India’s co-operation with Canada’s legal process is the right next step.”

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Sikh activist fears for his life every day in the UK
Canada and India expel each other’s diplomats over murder accusations

Suspicions Indian agents have killed Sikh activists are not isolated to Mr Nijjar’s case.

Last November, the FBI said it had thwarted the attempted assassination in the US by an Indian agent of Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, a Sikh activist leader.

The authorities said they had indicted an Indian national working on behalf of an unnamed Indian government official.

British Sikh activist Kulwant Singh Mothada told Sky News in February he fears every day he will be assassinated by the Indian state after a “hit list” drawn up by India’s counter-terror department featuring his face was broadcast on Indian TV last year.

Mr Nijjar and Mr Pannun were also on the list.

Mr Mothada said he thinks the UK – unlike Canada and the US – is ignoring the issue to appease India.

“If I am assassinated then it’s the British government’s total responsibility,” he said.

In January, a cross-party group of parliamentarians requested an urgent meeting with then security minister Tom Tugendhat following reports of “threat to life warnings” being issued to British Sikhs.

A spokesperson for the UK government said that it continually assesses potential threats, and takes “the protection of individuals’ rights, freedoms, and safety in the UK very seriously”.

Other leading Sikh activists in the US and Canada have also said they have been warned about threats to their lives.

India, meanwhile, has asked Britain to monitor UK-based Sikh separatists, accusing them of abusing the asylum system while being involved in “terrorist activities” in the South Asia country.