Modi to ask Carney to act on India's pending requests for extradition of Khalistanis from Canada

New Delhi: Even as Ottawa claimed to have agreed with New Delhi on “continued law enforcement dialogue”, India is likely to stress that Canada must act fast on its requests for extradition of 26 fugitives, including some top Khalistani Sikh terrorists operating from the North American country.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to travel to Ottawa to participate in the outreach sessions to be held on the sidelines of the G7 summit, which will be held at Kananaskis, Alberta, in Canada from June 15 to 17.

He will also have a bilateral meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney on the sidelines of the conclave.

Modi is likely to urge Carney to act on the long-pending requests from New Delhi for Ottawa to extradite the Khalistani Sikh terrorists, including Gurjeet Singh, Gurjinder Singh, Gurpreet Singh, Lakhbir Singh Landa and Arshdeep Singh Gill, as well as to ensure that the extremists can no longer run a secessionist campaign against India from Canada, a source told DH on Sunday.

Carney drew flak from the Khalistani Sikh extremists and their sympathisers after he called Modi on June 6 and invited him to attend the G7 summit even as the law-enforcement agencies were still investigating the role of India in the killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a fugitive terrorist, in Canada two years back.

Nijjar led the terrorist organisation, Khalistan Tiger Force, in India before fleeing to Canada. He was shot dead at the parking lot of a gurdwara in Surrey in the British Columbia province of the North American country on June 18, 2023. Carney’s predecessor, Justin Trudeau, in September 2023, alleged that agents of the Government of India had been involved in the killing of Nijjar. New Delhi refuted the allegation, which, however, brought India-Canada relations to a new low over the past couple of years.

Carney, however, defended his decision to invite Modi and pointed out that the legal process in connection with the June 18, 2023, killing of Nijjar was “underway and quite advanced” in Canada.

Four citizens of India living in Canada were charged with murdering the Khalistani Sikh terrorist.

The office of the Canadian Prime Minister in Ottawa stated after his phone call to his counterpart in New Delhi on June 6 that the two leaders had agreed to continue “law enforcement dialogue and discussions addressing security concerns”. “Bilaterally, we have now agreed importantly to continued law enforcement dialogue. So, there’s been some progress on that. That recognises issues of accountability (in the case of the killing of Nijjar),” Carney told journalists in response to queries on his decision to invite Modi. “I extended the invitation to Prime Minister Modi in that context, and he has accepted.”

To defend his decision to invite Modi, Carney cited his ‘agreement’ with the prime minister of India on continued dialogue between the law-enforcement agencies of the two nations over the allegation about New Delhi’s role in the killing of Nijjar in Canada.

New Delhi has been steadfastly maintaining that Ottawa had never shared with it any evidence in support of the allegations about its role in the murder of the Khalistani Sikh extremist in Canada.

Modi will convey to Carney that India was and would always be ready to look into any evidence provided by Canada, said the source in New Delhi. He will also underline that the cooperation between the law-enforcement agencies could progress if Ottawa acted fast on the pending 26 extradition requests from New Delhi, as well as many pending requests for provisional arrests of gangsters and terrorists who had fled from India to Canada, said the source.

Ottawa in October 2024 had gone on to accuse India’s High Commissioner to Canada, Sanjay Kumar Verma, and his five colleagues of having a role in the June 18, 2023, killing.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police had on October 14, 2024, publicly accused the agents of the Government of India of orchestrating criminal activities in Canada.

New Delhi had withdrawn Verma and its other diplomats in the North American country after denying Ottawa’s request to waive their diplomatic immunity and to make them available for questioning by the police investigators in connection with the murder of Nijjar. India had also expelled six diplomats of Canada.