India expels Canadian envoy over accusations of assassination of independence leader

Canada had previously expelled an Indian diplomat

MADRID, 19 Sep. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The Indian Foreign Ministry expelled a Canadian envoy this Tuesday in response to the previous expulsion of one of its diplomats in Canada after the country's Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, accused the Indian authorities of being involved in the murder. of the Sikh leader, Hardeep Singh Nijjar, who had Canadian citizenship.

"The Canadian High Commissioner to India has been summoned and informed of the Government of India's decision to expel a senior Canadian diplomat posted in India. The diplomat concerned has been asked to leave India within the next five days," he said. the ministry in a statement reported by the Hindustan Times newspaper.

Nijjar was shot outside a Sikh temple in Surrey, British Columbia, on June 18. He was also the leader of the Khalistan Tiger Force, an independence group that aspires to independence from the historic Sikh Empire in Khalistan and which had prepared attacks in the province of Punjab.

The Khalistan region includes the Indian provinces of Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Chandigarh, Delhi, and parts of Kashmir and Rajasthan. India had requested Nijjar's extradition from Canada in 2016, but he then denied all allegations.