Photo Illustration by Thomas Levinson/The Daily Beast/Getty/Reuters
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s explosive assertion this week that there are “credible allegations” that Indian agents are behind the killing of an outspoken Sikh separatist leader in British Columbia has kicked off a firestorm of diplomatic tiffs that threaten to escalate in coming days.
Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a staunch supporter of Khalistan, a sovereign Sikh state separate from India, was shot dead by two masked gunmen in June in Surrey. The men killed Nijjar, the president of the Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara, a Sikh place of worship, in the gurdwara parking lot.
India has vehemently denied the accusations that New Delhi was involved in the killing, calling the claim “absurd.”