In the global market, the sales of light-duty EVs reached around 6 million in the first half of 2023 (2023 H1), representing nearly 14% of new LDVs sold worldwide. The briefing provides an analysis of the electric vehicle (EV) market development and fleet carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions trends in 2023 H1, focusing on the major markets for light-duty vehicles (LDVs) (China, Europe, the United States, and India), which collectively accounted for approximately 63% of global LDV sales in that period.

Most global EV sales, approximately 80%, were concentrated in those four largest markets. China remained the world’s largest EV market, with approximately 3 million EVs sold in 2023 H1, constituting 29% of all new LDVs sold in the country, marking a 5 percentage point increase from the previous year. Europe saw EVs accounting for 20% of new LDVs sold in 2023 H1, a slight decrease from 2022. The United States experienced an increase in EV market share, reaching 9% in 2023 H1, up from 7% in 2022. India’s EV market also grew, but it lagged behind the other major markets with a 2% market share in 2023 H1.

Source

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On 18 June, Nikhil Gupta watched a video of a Sikh separatist leader who had been shot dead in Canada in his car, his bloody body slumped over the steering wheel.

Mr Gupta then forwarded the video to a man he is accused of hiring as a hitman for another murder, in a different country. On the phone the next day, Mr Gupta told the man that the Canadian activist had been a “target”, “#4, #3” on a list.

“We have so many targets,” Mr Gupta said. “The good news is this: now no need to wait.”

Those alleged conversations were outlined in an indictment unsealed by US prosecutors on Wednesday. The US Justice Department has charged Mr Gupta with an elaborate plot to assassinate a dual US-Canadian citizen based in New York, a plot allegedly directed by an Indian government employee.

While the target was not named by prosecutors, US media reported it was Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, a dual US-Canadian citizen and member of a US-based Sikh separatist group.

That particular scheme was thwarted. The hitman in New York who Mr Gupta allegedly agreed to pay $100,000 was in fact an undercover agent. 

But the 15-page charging document also provides new details on the attack that did succeed – the fatal shooting of Hardeep Singh Nijjar in British Columbia. These details raise fresh questions about that murder on Canadian soil, about who knew what, and when.

The brazen killing of Mr Nijjar – a 45-year-old leader who campaigned to establish a Sikh state independent of India – shocked Canadians.

The murder also spun into a diplomatic disaster a few months later in September, when Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said there were “credible allegations” that India had been involved.

Mr Trudeau’s accusation – dismissed by India as “absurd” – widened a growing rift between the two countries and the prime minister faced pressure to reveal some of the evidence behind his claims. Speaking on Wednesday, Mr Trudeau said only that the US charges emphasised India’s need to take Canada’s allegations seriously.

But experts say the US indictment has added weight to his claims.

“Today’s proof goes a lot further than what Trudeau said [in September],” Stephanie Carvin, professor of international affairs at Carleton University in Ottawa, told the BBC. “This makes it clear there was a conspiracy to kill four individuals, three in Canada… The killing of Mr Nijjar was not a one-off.”

At the time of Mr Trudeau’s allegation, the public response from Canada’s closest ally seemed muted. US officials expressed concern over the incident but stopped short of either echoing Mr Trudeau’s claims or condemning India outright.

We now know the White House knew of the US investigation into the murder-for-hire plot weeks before Mr Trudeau went public after the G20 summit in India. A senior administration official confirmed that President Joe Biden had raised concerns with his Indian counterpart, Narendra Modi, at that same global meeting. 

‘There’s a big target in Canada’

Mr Gupta, US officials allege, was involved in international narcotics and weapons trafficking before he was recruited by an Indian government official in May 2023 to arrange the assassination. 

Mr Pannun, an associate of Mr Nijjar, is the general counsel for Sikhs for Justice, an organisation based in the US that supports the broader Khalistan movement, which calls for an independent homeland for Sikhs, who make up about 2% of India’s population. 

The movement was at its peak in the 1980s in the state of Punjab, which witnessed several violent attacks and deaths. It lost traction after armed forces ran special operations against the movement, which is now banned in India, but supporters in the diaspora have continued their calls for a separate state. 

Mr Pannun, like Mr Nijjar, has been designated a terrorist by India, charges they both denied. 

For weeks, the indictment alleges, Mr Gupta tracked and monitored Mr Pannun, following orders from the Indian government employee – who described himself in communications as a “senior field officer” with training in “battle craft”. 

The document reveals how US law enforcement infiltrated the alleged plot, setting him up with a phoney hitman, who was actually an undercover agent. 

As the alleged murder plot moved forward, Mr Gupta alluded to a long list of targets that would follow the assassination of Mr Pannun. “More jobs, more jobs”, he said in a June phone call, cited in the indictment. 

Those prospective “jobs” included cross-border operations. On 12 June, Mr Gupta told the US law enforcement source there was a “big target” in Canada. 

Six days after that, on 18 June, Mr Nijjar was shot dead by two gunmen wearing dark clothes with hoods outside a Sikh temple in Surrey, British Columbia. 

Canada’s national police force, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, are still actively investigating Mr Nijjar’s death, and offered no comment in the wake of the US indictment. US prosecutors do not allege any of the accused plotters were involved in that crime, but claim Mr Gupta and his Indian handler discussed it in the immediate aftermath. 

Mr Gupta told the Indian government employee he wished he had personally carried out the killing, according to the indictment. Soon after, he called the US law enforcement source, identifying Mr Nijjar as the potential Canadian “job” he had referenced days earlier. 

“This is the guy, I send you the video,” Mr Gupta said. “Some other guy did this job.” 

And, court documents suggest, Mr Nijjar’s murder seemed to spur Mr Gupta on. He told the US source that Mr Pannun’s murder should be done “quickly”. And after that was done, Mr Gupta allegedly said, they had three more “jobs” to do before the end of June – all three in Canada.

A question of ‘actionable intelligence’

The details included in Wednesday’s indictment have raised new questions about the threats to Canadians, including Mr Nijjar. 

Mr Nijjar was reportedly warned by Canadian law enforcement that his life was in danger soon before he was killed. But it’s unclear how much that warning was informed by US intelligence on the threat to Canadian citizens gathered through the undercover operation.

“It strikes me as extremely unlikely that any information available to the FBI wouldn’t have been made known almost immediately to Canadian authorities,” Wesley Wark, a senior fellow at the Centre for International Governance Innovation, told the BBC. He described the Canada-US law enforcement relationship as “very tight and very close”.

The more likely story, he said, was that there was less “actionable intelligence” – details that could be reliably acted upon – in the case of Mr Nijjar compared to the case of Mr Pannun. 

But why was the US able to thwart a murder plot while Canada was not? 

“I think it would be too soon to assume that there was some kind of major breakdown of law enforcement or intelligence on the Canadian side in terms of trying to protect Mr Nijjar,” he said. 

The reality may be scarier, Mr Wark said. The US indictment – combined with Mr Trudeau’s allegations – suggest there may have been multiple hit teams on the loose, with one able to evade detection and carry out its mission. 

On Wednesday, the White House confirmed it had raised the alleged plot with the Indian government at the most senior levels, adding that Indian officials responded with “surprise and concern”. The Indian government said it had launched an investigation into security concerns raised by the US in relation to the plot. 

But neither the US or India will want to undermine their budding diplomatic relationship, said Professor Carvin, the international affairs expert. 

“I strongly suspect there were a lot of calls from Washington to Delhi to try and sort this out as quietly and quickly as possible,” she said. 

While we wait for any diplomatic fallout, Wednesday’s revelations have already offered validation to Canadian Sikhs, said Gurpreet Singh, a Sikh journalist and radio host based in British Columbia. 

“People generally feel vindicated because this is what we’ve been saying for a very long time – that the Indian government is interfering, that they’re trying to muzzle voices of dissent,” he said. “In a way, Hardeep Singh Nijjar has been vindicated posthumously.”

Source: BBC

The post What US Agents Knew Before a Sikh Separatist Was Killed in Canada appeared first on The Victoria Post.

Canada is a fellow democracy and member of the Five Eyes intelligence sharing network, a friendly and helpful neighbor and a NATO ally.

India is a burgeoning strategic partner in the Indo-Pacific region that Washington hopes can substantially contribute to countering China.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi met with U.S. President Joe Biden at the White House in June during his first official state visit to Washington. The two signed many strategic agreements then and optimism about new areas of cooperation has been at an all-time high. Washington has even been willing to look the other way at India’s heavy purchases of Russian oil since the beginning of the Ukraine war.

Yet the India-Canada feud may force Washington’s hand, depending on the nature of the evidence that Ottawa eventually brings to light about possible official Indian involvement in the killing of Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Vancouver in July.

A direct link between Indian agents and the murder would likely at minimum put a damper on future cooperation between Washington and New Delhi. In a sign of what may be to come, U.S. Ambassador to India Eric Garcetti reportedly told staff to prepare for the possibility of reduced contact with Indian officials.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken urged Indian External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar to cooperate with Canada’s probe into the killing when they met in Washington last month, a few days after the top American diplomat said he was deeply “deep concerned” about the case. U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said India would not get any “special exemption” in the matter.

But heavy-handed American criticism is likely to backfire. Many Indians are quick to point out that since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, Washington has conducted extrajudicial killings on foreign soil by drone strike, depriving the U.S. of any moral high ground in their view.

At the same time, if Ottawa can persuasively demonstrate Indian complicity in Nijjar’s murder, then U.S. inaction would not only anger Canada, but might also be corrosive to the Biden administration’s values-based foreign policy.

Although India is a fellow democracy committed to liberal democratic principles, numerous credible research and rights organizations assess that it has increasingly become an illiberal democracy under Modi.

If Nijjar’s killing is linked to India, then American policymakers will feel compelled to act, even if it potentially means sacrificing cooperation on China.

India can take solace, however, in the Saudi Arabia example: Biden’s earlier heavy criticism of Riyadh over the 2018 murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, a U.S. resident, has been effectively forgotten as the administration has moved to strengthen ties and even discuss the possibility of a security treaty.

People protest outside India’s consulate in Toronto last month against New Delhi’s suspected involvement in the murder of Sikh activist Singh Nijjar in Vancouver.   © Reuters

Indeed, while the Biden administration will feel compelled to chastise India if Canada releases convincing evidence, Washington can be expected to broadly continue with business as usual. Such an approach makes sense as it takes both America’s national interests and values into account. However, it may be tricky to pull off, given the unpredictable twists and turns the saga could take in the weeks and months to come.

For example, India may continue to escalate the issue, which could compel the U.S. to intervene on Canada’s behalf. Already, the diplomatic fallout has been significant: New Delhi has suspended visa services for Canadians and forced Ottawa to withdraw dozens of diplomatic staff from India.

For his part, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has said he does not wish to escalate matters further and that India remains an important partner in the Indo-Pacific region. He insists that he simply wants New Delhi to take the case seriously and look into it, but argues that last week’s expulsions violated the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations. India has denied this, but the Biden administration issued a terse statement supporting Canada in the matter.

Another possibility is that Sikh separatists active in other countries could try to take advantage of the spotlight from the Nijjar case to further promote their cause, which could lead to more diplomatic tensions.

For example, after India arrested a prominent Sikh separatist in Punjab state in March, his followers smashed windows and tore down a flag at the Indian High Commission in London; the Indian foreign ministry summoned the acting head of the U.K. mission in New Delhi to complain about inadequate security.

The outbreak of war between Israel and Hamas could be another wild card. Interestingly, both Canada and India are staunchly aligned with Israel against Hamas, which they both label a terrorist organization, in stark contrast to their conflicting views about Sikh separatists.

If the Israeli operation in Gaza is short, then Ottawa and New Delhi will continue to focus on their bilateral grievances. But if it turns into a longer, more expansive conflict, then the Nijjar case could fade into the background in the interests of maintaining a united front against terrorism.

The best-case scenario for the Biden administration is that Canada and India resolve their differences privately and expeditiously, without any need for U.S. mediation.

In an encouraging moment, Jaishankar last month said that while the Indian government stands by its denial of Canada’s allegations, New Delhi will listen and investigate the claim. This week, he said, “If we see progress in the safety of our diplomats in Canada, we would like to resume issuance of visas there.”

The Biden administration will start to breathe a big sigh of relief if the Modi government calms down and follows through, but the departure last week of Canada’s expelled diplomats from India suggests this drama is far from over.

Source: Nikkei Asia

The post India-Canada Spat is No-win Situation for the U.S. appeared first on The Victoria Post.

Canadian PM Justin Trudeau initiated what has been a tense few weeks between the two countries when he said there was “credible evidence” India may have been involved in the killing of Sikh Khalistani separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar.

Indian PM Narendra Modi denied the allegation, saying it was “absurd”. 

The international education sector has been keeping a close eye on relations between the two countries in the weeks since Trudeau’s speech on September 19, in case of possible ramifications for student. 

It seems, for now, these worries may be quelled.

“It’s been quiet. I’ve talked to students who are presently in Canada saying they don’t even know anything about this,” Sushil Sukhwani, CEO of Edwise International, told The PIE News. 

Sukhwani said that while there had been a slight dip in interest from Indian students in Canada, the numbers have now returned to 75% of what they were. 

According to the Financial Times, talks are continuing in between Canada and India about the 41 Canadian diplomats who were given a deadline of October 10 to leave India. The officials remain in the country, and have reportedly not been told to leave by the Canadian government yet. 

The countries’ foreign ministers had reportedly been trying to “resolve the situation in private” in early October, but no further official updates have been given from either country’s foreign office. 

Reuters reported that recent talks between UK PM Rishi Sunak and Trudeau have taken place about the row, and that Sunak “reaffirmed the UK’s position that all countries should respect sovereignty and the rule of law, including the principles of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations”, according to a government spokesperson.

India hasn’t resumed issuing visas to Canadians, but Sonya Singh, founder and managing director at the agency SIEC Pty Ltd, said students are still applying to study in Canada and visas are being issued the other way. 

“The next major intake for Canadian institutions is September 2024 and by that time diplomacy would have prevailed. At this stage in India it is more of a drawing room discussion rather than a deep concern.

“Canada has a very deep immigration history with India that goes back to the 1800s – and the first migrants were the Sikh community. They are well established and have political clout that is being exploited by some vested interests in India and in Canada. 

“The opinion is that once the Indian and the Canadian elections are over next year, this will be history,” Singh predicted.

That enduring relationship was also mentioned by Abhijit Zaveri, founder and director of Career Mosaic, who said such matters arise “from time to time”. 

“In the current situation, it is essential to remember that both nations share a longstanding and robust relationship as India is one of the top five sources of migrants to Canada.

“Diplomatic issues arise from time to time, and it is not uncommon for such matters to be resolved through dialogue and cooperation.

“While the temporary suspension of visa services may present challenges, it is crucial to maintain flexibility and consider alternative plans if necessary,” he told The PIE.

He said there may be a “temporary fluctuation” in terms of student demand, but it shouldn’t be a worry to any providers. 

“Canada remains a sought-after destination for Indian students, and the appeal of its educational institutions remains strong.

“In times like these, it’s crucial to maintain a positive outlook, trust in the strength of the bilateral relationship, and be prepared for any necessary adjustments. We firmly believe that both nations will work towards a resolution that benefits all stakeholders,” Zaveri said.

Source : The PIE News

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While Australia initially called for an investigation after Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made the accusations against India, there had been no significant reaction from Southeast Asia and beyond, Vohra said on the sidelines of an Asia Society event in Sydney on Thursday.

“I don’t think it’ll impact on any other relationship,” he said in an interview with Bloomberg, adding it was up to Canada to lay out evidence to back its allegations. “In the absence of that, what do we do? Other than perhaps lean more toward analysis of why Prime Minister Trudeau said what he did. And the reasons he said what he did.”

Relations between New Delhi and Ottawa plunged into a deep freeze last month after Trudeau said India’s government was involved in the assassination of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a Canadian citizen who had been at the forefront of a movement calling for an independent Sikh homeland in India called Khalistan.

India has suspended visas for Canadians and the two sides are in talks about cutting diplomatic staff in the South Asian country.

Vohra said apart from the initial inquiries, Australia had not had further conversations with the Indian embassy about the allegations.

Trudeau’s claims come at a time of major outreach by the Indian government under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, as the South Asian nation widens and deepens its diplomatic and economic footprint across the world as part of the rise of what is being called the Global South.

During the Asia Society panel in Sydney, the envoy pushed for more economic integration between India and Australia, home to almost 1 million Indian migrants. Vohra said a lack of knowledge about India at the top of Australian society and businesses was hampering attempts to expand those ties.

Source: Yahoo News

The post Canada Allegations Haven’t Hurt India’s Diplomacy, Envoy Says appeared first on The Victoria Post.

At the time, India said the move was due to “security threats” disrupting work at its Canadian missions.

But the suspension came amid a serious dispute over the killing of a Sikh separatist on Canadian soil.

Ottawa accused India of being behind the killing – an allegation New Delhi has called “absurd.”

On Wednesday, officials said they will resume issuing some visas after reviewing the security situation at their missions, and in light of recent Canadian measures which they did not name.

They added in a statement that “further decisions, as appropriate, would be intimated based on continuing evaluation of the situation”.

Services will reportedly resume on Thursday, and will apply to entry visas, as well as business, medical and conference visas. 

Entry visas are specific to “persons of Indian origin” and their spouses and children, according to the website of Toronto’s Consulate General of India. They also apply to immediate family of an Indian citizen. 

It is unclear if the resumption of services will apply to Canadian tourists, who would require a specific tourist visa.

Relations between India and Canada reached historic lows after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Canada was investigating credible allegations of India’s involvement in the murder of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a Sikh separatist leader shot and killed in Surrey, British Columbia, in June. 

Police at the time described it as a “targeted killing”, but no suspects have yet been identified. 

Mr Trudeau has urged for India’s cooperation with the ongoing murder investigation, while stressing that Canada is not looking to escalate the rift with India. 

Canada recently withdrew dozens of its diplomats from India, after the country threatened to remove diplomatic immunity for them. 

India has said Canada had many more diplomats in Delhi than India has in Ottawa, and has demanded parity ever since the row between the two countries erupted.

But the Global Affairs website, which lists the Indian diplomats in Ottawa, suggests they had about the same number. 

Twenty-one Canadian diplomats remain in India.

Source: BBC

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India was quick to deny Trudeau’s accusations, calling them ‘absurd and motivated’. This is a new low for relations between the two countries that have had constant disagreements over the handling of the Khalistan movement since the 1985 Kanishka bombing. The breakdown is a jarring development for the West.

Unsurprisingly, Australia’s response to the controversy has been cautious. The intent to strengthen economic and security ties between Australia and India has never been clearer. The excitement in this partnership is such that Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese even called Indian Prime Minister Modi ‘boss’ in front of 20,000 members of the Indian diaspora at the Qudos Bank Arena in Sydney.

Australia should navigate the political climate with an awareness of both India’s security concerns and those of the West — to which it belongs. To start, the Australian government should not mistakenly link the rise in crimes against minorities in India to calls for establishing Khalistan, an independent Sikh state from India. To do so would be falling into an ethno-nationalist narrative that pro-Khalistan separatists wish to promote to gain sympathisers.

While many continue to seek justice for the crimes committed during the anti-Sikh riots of 1984 and the years that followed, the demand for a separate state has little to no support from Sikhs back in India. This is due to the strides the Sikh community has made in all avenues of public and private life in India.

Sikhs on average are the wealthiest by a wide margin compared to India’s other three major religious groups. The study also found that despite recent instances of privileging Hindu nationalists over other minorities, a vast majority of Indian religious minorities including Sikhs remain proud to be Indian. But pro-Khalistan groups based outside of India are attempting to use these instances as fodder to enrich the discourse around a separate Sikh state.

In an independent review, Colin Bloom, a former faith engagement advisor to the UK government noted, only ‘a small, extremely vocal and aggressive minority of British Sikhs […] can be described as pro-Khalistan extremists’. This holds true for the pro-Khalistan separatist movements in Australia, Canada and the United States. The report adds that ‘while these extremists reflect a tiny minority, they attract disproportionate amounts of attention and stoke divisive sentiments in sectors of Sikh communities’.

During Modi’s visit to Australia in May, Modi raised the latest outbreaks of violence in Australia involving pro-Khalistan separatists with Albanese. Modi said that India ‘will not accept any elements that harm the friendly and warm ties between India and Australia by their actions or thoughts’. The events in Canada are a stark reminder that the Modi administration is likely to put the Khalistan issue at the centre of all bilateral discussions.

Though a strict stance against the secessionist movement strongly favours Modi’s popularity back home, the pro-Khalistan extremism emanating internationally has been a security concern for India for decades. It is only now — due to its growing economic and geopolitical clout — that India can respond indignantly against the Canadian administration.

Any violent makeover of the Khalistan movement is likely to become an irritant between Australia and India that could derail much bilateral progress and seriously handicap Australia’s Indo-Pacific strategy. Unlike its partners in the West, Australia is located in the Indo-Pacific region. Its security and economic needs are more pressing when it comes to navigating relations with India and China and so require careful treading between the two.

On the other hand, this situation presents an opportunity to lay down clear prerequisites for both Quad members before their partnership deepens. Australia must be unequivocal in its support for the democratic right of every Australian citizen to engage in peaceful protests and that any reduction of this will not be tolerated. At the same time, Australia must reassure Indian authorities that any legitimate security concerns will be taken seriously.

The Australian government should be able to do what Canadian authorities have failed to do in the past and recognise attempts by pro-Khalistan lobbying groups who artificially inflate their influence by using the ‘Sikh’ label. Blending diaspora politics with domestic politics is a dangerous game and one that Australian political parties must avoid. Viewing the Nijjar controversy as evidence of an ethnic divide between the Hindus and Sikhs is a threat to the security of the majority of well-meaning Australian Sikhs that are unorganised or uninterested in pushing back against the pro-Khalistan agenda of an organised few.

The Khalistan movement in Australia is still in its infancy and Australia is in a better position than Canada to appreciate the complexities of the movement before it infiltrates the politics and influences decision-making.

The diplomatic row between India and Canada serves as a blueprint for when past grievances from afar are nurtured and are left to spill over into federal politics. The vexed response from the Indian government to Trudeau’s allegations reflects India’s rising global clout. While Australia needs to be strict about any Indian intimidation towards the pro-Khalistan separatists in Australia, Canberra should work with New Delhi to reign in extremist ideology and organised crime before it leaks into the future and undoes hard bilateral work.

Source : East Asia Forum

The post Australia Should Take Notes on the India–canada Fallout appeared first on The Victoria Post.

Since Canada’s prime minister, Justin Trudeau, tried and failed at the September G20 meeting in New Delhi to engage his Indian counterpart, Narendra Modi, on the issue of this killing, and then chose to make a public statement alleging Indian involvement, the story of Mr Nijjar’s death has become a big geopolitical scandal. It has become a scandal because of outrage at the idea of India sending agents to kill a dissident abroad, but also because of outrage that Canada has accused India openly of doing this.

Let us be realistic: extra-territorial actions against opponents have always happened. Russian agents have killed or attempted to kill numerous dissidents abroad in recent years, many in Britain, including one attempt using a nerve agent, Novichok, that is banned by international conventions. Saudi Arabia notoriously killed a dissident journalist, Jamal Khashoggi, in 2018 in their consulate in Istanbul, Turkey. Chinese agents have kidnapped people they consider to be dissidents not just in Hong Kong but also in South-East Asia.

And Japan has not been immune to such actions: in 1973 the South Korean opposition politician, Kim Dae Jung, was kidnapped from a Tokyo hotel by South Korean agents who allegedly were only dissuaded from murdering him by pressure from the American CIA. Mr Kim was taken to Seoul and put under house arrest instead before being sent into a more distant exile in the United States. In 1998, once South Korea had become a democracy, Mr Kim was elected president.

What is notable about the series of examples of extra-territorial violence listed above is that apart from India the perpetrators listed have all been authoritarian regimes. Some might argue that western democracies’ secret services are just better at disguising their actions, and it is known that Israel’s Mossad has committed such killings in the past. In general, however, we should note that these kinds of actions are fairly rare, whatever James Bond and other movies might tell us.

One reason is that, in democracies, public protests against extra-judicial and extra-territorial killings by spy agencies would be fierce, unless the country felt it was in a state of war, making such actions politically risky both for the spies and for the political leaders who have to give approval for them. In 1988, when British soldiers killed three unarmed members of the terrorist Irish Republican Army the backlash against the action was long and loud, even though a civil war was under way in the UK territory of Northern Ireland and even though the killings took place in the British colony of Gibraltar. Authoritarian regimes feel a lot less constrained by public opinion, which is why Russia has been such a frequent culprit.

Nonetheless, all types of regimes are constrained by a further consideration. To carry out a violent act on another country’s territory is tantamount to an act of war. This provides the answer to the second question, of why countries do not assassinate each others’ political leaders. The reason is that to carry out a political assassination would, in modern times, be seen as a declaration of war on the target country. All countries, authoritarian or democratic, rightly think twice before contemplating such an action.

Which brings us back to the case of Hardeep Singh Nijjar and his murder in Vancouver in June. It has not been proven that this was the work of Indian agents, or of killers encouraged by the Indian government. Yet Prime Minister Trudeau clearly believes the evidence for this is strong enough for him to take the risk of accusing a fellow democratic country, India, of perpetrating this violation of Canadian law and its sovereignty.

We are not in a position to judge the merits of the case. We can note that many Sikhs, including Mr Nijjar, are campaigning for their homeland in India to secede and become a separate country. We can reasonably wonder whether Mr Nijjar can really have posed such a threat to India, from his home thousands of miles away, that it would have been worthwhile for agents to take the political risk of taking a domestic fight across international borders and into an otherwise friendly foreign country.

What we can also observe is that inside India itself the backlash against the idea that Indian spies might have committed this act has been quite modest. There have instead been many loud protests in the Indian media against Canada and the West for making this accusation, albeit often linked to an argument that if the accusation were proved to be true, the killing would be justifiable.

This inevitably raises the third question, about the state of democracy in India, a country which Japan and many of its allies have been seeking to become closer to, arguing that we somehow share common values. The reality is that since his election in 2014 as prime minister, Narendra Modi has tightened controls over the media and over universities, and has pursued an often divisive, sectarian policy in a country that contains many religions, including Muslims and Sikhs as well as Mr Modi’s Hindus.

The lack of protest against the idea of the Canadian killing implies that India has become more like an authoritarian country than a democracy, at least in its public discourse. It is of course still a democracy, given that the next general elections will be held in 2024 and they will be competitive, unlike elections held in Russia. But it is a democracy with some authoritarian characteristics.

Does this mean that Japan and the West should shun India? No, because there is nothing that outsiders can do to make India more or less democratic than it is. Rules about sovereignty and foreign interference apply even more to domestic politics than to assassinations. What we can do is to shed any illusions our political leaders might have about whether collaboration with India is something justifiable and promotable on the basis of values. If we collaborate, especially with regard to resisting China, it will be on the basis of shared interests, nothing more.

Source: The Mainichi

The post Bill Emmott: Killing Of Canadian Sikh Leader Raises Questions About Democracy In India appeared first on The Victoria Post.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau publicly accused the Indian government of being involved in the killing of an Indian separatist leader in Canada. India deplores the accusation.

As Canadian colleges prepare to open classes, some students are considering delaying their studies. Others are wondering whether higher education could be damaged in the current crisis.

India by far supplies the most students to Canada’s fast-growing international education business. About 40 percent of study permit holders are from India. International students provide over $14.6 billion to the Canadian economy each year.

Estimates by professionals in India show that over 100,000 students are preparing for an English language test and organizing financing to study in Canada next year.

Top universities offer programs costing up to $29,000 a year. Colleges provide short-term, less costly programs. They are connecting with students to confirm the diplomatic disagreement does not damage one of Canada’s better-known exports.

Reporters from Reuters news agency spoke to numerous universities and professionals in Canada and India who said they were taking measures to reduce students’ questions or fears.

Joseph Wong is vice president of the University of Toronto. He said the university has reached out to many partners in India to confirm they are committed to continuing cooperation. The University of Toronto had more than 2,400 international students from India in 2022-2023.

Canadian universities say the diplomatic disagreement may only be temporary. But Ashok Kumar Bhatia, President of the Association of Consultants for Overseas Studies, said many Indian students have become concerned about their safety. Companies like IDP Education have been sending video messages in an effort to calm nerves.

John Tibbits is president of Conestoga College in Ontario. He noted about a hundred students out of the thousands that register every year were asking about delaying their study. Some current students were also seeking to attend classes online.

“Our biggest concern is the uncertainty. What might the Indian government do as far as visas and how might people react,” Tibbits said. “We are spending $36 million a year for college on just support for students.”

Source: Learning English

The post As Tensions Rise, Canadian Colleges Confirm Indian Students Welcome appeared first on The Victoria Post.

Nijjar, the chief of the banned Khalistan Tiger Force (KTF), was killed in Surrey in British Columbia on June 18. India had designated Nijjar as a terrorist in 2020. The United States has urged India to cooperate with Canada in its investigations.

“In the aftermath of the killing, US intelligence agencies offered their Canadian counterparts context that helped Canada conclude that India had been involved,” the NYT reported, quoting unnamed allied officials as saying.

Yet what appears to be the “smoking gun,” intercepted communications of Indian diplomats in Canada indicating involvement in the plot, was gathered by Canadian officials, allied officials said.

David Cohen, US Ambassador to Canada, in an interview with CTV News said that “shared intelligence among Five Eyes partners” had informed Trudeau of the possible involvement of Indian agents in the murder of a Canadian citizen in June.

“I will say this was a matter of shared intelligence information. There was a lot of communication between Canada and the United States about this, and I think that’s as far as I’m comfortable going,” Cohen told CTV News.

After Nijjar’s death, American officials told their Canadian counterparts that Washington had not had any advance information about the plot, and that if US officials had they would have immediately informed Ottawa under the intelligence agencies’ “duty to warn” doctrine, according to two allied officials, the newspaper reported.

The officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss what has become a diplomatic firestorm, said Canadian officials had offered a general warning to Nijjar but had not told him that he was the target of an Indian government plot, according to the report.

Cohen told CTV that said that the US takes very seriously these allegations. “And, you know, if they prove to be true, it is a potentially very serious breach of the rules-based international order in which we like to function,” he said in response to a question.

While Secretary of State Antony Blinken has called on India to cooperate with the Canadian investigation, American officials have largely tried to avoid triggering any diplomatic blowback from India, the paper said.

But the disclosure of the involvement of US intelligence risks ensnaring Washington in the diplomatic battle between Canada and India at a time when it is keen to develop New Delhi as a closer partner, it said.

Blinken said the US is “deeply concerned” about the allegations raised by Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau against India and Washington was “closely coordinating” with Ottawa on the issue and wants to see “accountability” in the case.

Speaking at a press conference in New York on Friday, Blinken said the US has engaged directly with the Indian government on the issue and the most productive thing would be the completion of this investigation.

Trudeau on Friday said that Canada shared with India “many weeks ago” evidence on the killing of Nijjar and wants New Delhi to commit constructively with Ottawa to establish the facts in the “very serious matter.”

When asked about Canada sharing any information in the case with India, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) in New Delhi said: “No specific information has been shared by Canada on this case, either then or before or after. We have, you know, as we have said, or I think we have made very clear, we are willing to look at any specific information.”

Source: Hindustan Times

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