Recent indictments of Indian nationals in the United States and developments with New Delhi over the past week suggest that there's a 'single plot' to commit violence that both the US and Canada are investigating, claimed Cameron MacKay, Canada's most recent High Commissioner to India. Mackay had left India in August after completing his term.
The former envoy said it's "a fiasco on the part of the Indian government" to think that its agents could arrange violent crimes across Canada and the US and get away with it, according to CBC News.
“The indictment and the charges in the United States just yesterday, and then the indictment that was released on November 29 of 2023 paint a really compelling and a rather detailed portrait of a single plot emanating from Delhi to kill multiple targets across North America, in Canada and the United States," Mackay said.
"So you put those two indictments together with the evidence that was released and the comments made by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police on Monday, and you have a very clear picture, in fact, of what has been going on, for well over a year now,” he added.
MacKay claimed, “Some serious red lines were crossed, and for that reason, Canada has taken the strong diplomatic and law enforcement action that it has up to now."
Criticising New Delhi's stance on the allegations levelled by Canada, the former envoy said, "Indian government's position up until now has been to deny and vilify Canada and distract its domestic audience from real facts of what's been happening here."
MacKay claimed that repairing diplomatic relations with Ottawa is not high on India's agenda at the moment, and added, “It will take a long while before relations return to anything like normal.”
The development came in light of the recent indictment of former Indian government official Vikas Yadav, who is charged by the US for his alleged role in a foiled plot to assassinate Sikh separatist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun on American soil.
India-Canada Diplomatic Row
In the past also, Canada has claimed that murder-for-hire plots allegedly involving former Indian government agents in both countries are linked. India has, however, dismissed these allegations, calling them 'absurd' and a part of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's strategy to win the upcoming elections.
The diplomatic rift between Canada and India has intensified after the Trudeau government designated the Indian ambassador and other diplomats as "persons of interest" in its probe into the killing of pro-Khalistani terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar. India has dismissed Canada's allegation termed them "preposterous".