India and Canada have expelled each other's top diplomats amid escalating tensions over the June 2023 killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a Sikh separatist leader, in British Columbia. Canada accused Indian officials of involvement in Nijjar's assassination, expelling India's top diplomat and five others. In return, India expelled Canada's acting high commissioner and five others.
Nijjar, an Indian-born Canadian citizen, was a prominent figure in the Khalistan movement, which seeks an independent Sikh homeland in India. The movement has been banned in India since the 1980s but has support in Canada, where about 2% of the population is Sikh. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau claimed to have credible evidence last year linking Indian government agents to Nijjar's killing, which India denies. The tensions threaten to derail long-standing economic and strategic relations between the two countries.
Separately, an Air India plane was diverted to Canada after a false bomb threat yesterday, part of a series of recent threats targeting Indian airlines.
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