Amid the ongoing diplomatic tensions between India and Canada over the alleged targeting of pro-Khalistan separatist figures, a secret meeting took place between National Security Adviser (NSA) Ajit Doval and his Canadian counterpart in Singapore last week. This meeting was reported by The Washington Post, citing anonymous Canadian officials.
During the meeting, Canadian officials presented alleged evidence that India had enlisted networks of the Lawrence Bishnoi gang to carry out the killing of Khalistani terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar and attacks on Sikh separatists. The Ministry for External Affairs in India has not yet responded to these claims.
According to the report, Doval initially “pretended not to have any idea” who Lawrence Bishnoi was. However, he later acknowledged that Bishnoi was “capable of orchestrating violence from wherever he is incarcerated” and was “known to be up to no good from his jail cell.”
Interestingly, back in June 2022, the Indian High Commission had alerted Canada about gangsters operating from its soil being involved in violent crimes in Punjab, following the killing of singer Sidhu Moose Wala. The Lawrence Bishnoi gang had claimed responsibility for Moose Wala’s murder and has a presence in Canada through its associates.
The five-hour meeting was sought by Canada to persuade the Indian government to end an “escalating campaign of violence” in the country. Canadian security adviser Nathalie Drouin, Deputy Foreign Minister David Morrison, and a senior member of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police attended the meeting.
Canadian officials also informed Doval that details on alleged Indian involvement in attacks on Sikh separatists were likely to become public as the trial of four suspects in Nijjar’s killing was scheduled for next month. Nijjar was gunned down in Surrey, British Columbia, in June last year.
The report cited Doval as saying that India would “deny any link to the Nijjar murder and any link to any other violence in Canada, no matter what the evidence was.”
Additionally, the report claimed that the six Indian diplomats, including High Commissioner Sanjay Verma, who were asked to leave Canada, were directly involved in gathering intelligence on Sikh separatists who were then killed, attacked, or threatened by India’s proxies.
India has strongly denied these allegations, calling them “preposterous imputations” and attributing them to the “political agenda” of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. In a tit-for-tat move, India has also expelled six Canadian diplomats, including Canada’s top diplomat in New Delhi.
