oronto, September 19<\/strong><\/p>\n

Canada expelled a top Indian diplomat on Monday as it investigates what Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called credible allegations that India’s government may have had links to the assassination in Canada of a Sikh activist.<\/p>\n

Trudeau said in Parliament that Canadian intelligence agencies had been looking into the allegations after Sikh leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a strong supporter of an independent Sikh homeland known as Khalistan, was gunned down on June 18 outside a Sikh temple in Surrey, British Columbia.<\/p>\n

Trudeau told Parliament that he brought up the slaying with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the\u00a0G-20 last week<\/a>. He said he told Modi that any Indian government involvement would be unacceptable and that he asked for cooperation in the investigation.<\/p>\n

Canadian Foreign Minister M\u00e9lanie Joly said the head of Indian intelligence in Canada had been expelled as a consequence.<\/p>\n

“If proven true this would be a great violation of our sovereignty and of the most basic rule of how countries deal with each other,” Joly said. “As a consequence we have expelled a top Indian diplomat.”<\/p>\n

The Indian Embassy in Ottawa did not immediately answer phone calls from The Associated Press seeking comment.<\/p>\n

The expulsion comes as relations between Canada and India are tense. Trade talks have been derailed and Canada just cancelled a trade mission to India that was planned for the fall.<\/p>\n

At the G-20 meeting, Modi expressed “strong concerns” over Canada’s handling of the Punjabi independence movement among the overseas during a meeting with Trudeau at the G-20, according to a statement released by India’s Ministry of External Affairs.<\/p>\n

The statement described the\u00a0Sikh movement<\/a>\u00a0as “promoting secessionism and inciting violence” against Indian diplomats. It called on Canada to work with India on what New Delhi said is a threat to the Canadian Indian diaspora.<\/p>\n

Canada has a Sikh population of more than 770,000, or about 2 per cent of its total population.<\/p>\n

“Over the past number of weeks Canadian security agencies have been actively pursuing credible allegations of a potential link between agents of the government of India and the killing of a Canadian citizen, Hardeep Singh Nijjar,” Trudeau said.<\/p>\n

Trudeau said Canada has declared its deep concerns to the Indian government. “Any involvement of a foreign government in the killing of a Canadian citizen on Canadian soil is an unacceptable violation of our sovereignty.\u201d Trudeau said his government has been working closely and coordinating with Canada’s allies on the case.<\/p>\n

“In the strongest possible terms I continue to urge the government of India to cooperate with Canada to get to the bottom of this matter,” he said.<\/p>\n