Ex-Envoy Welcomes Canada's Delinking of India from Transnational Repression

The senior diplomat had been recalled by New Delhi in October 2024 following a sharp decline in bilateral relations. The friction was sparked by allegations levelled by former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who suggested an Indian link to the 2023 killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a terrorist designated by the National Investigation Agency (NIA).

In an interview with ANI, Verma emphasised that interfering in the domestic affairs of other nations "is not India's policy." This comes as ties between India and Canada witness a significant recovery under the leadership of Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, who undertook an official visit to India from 27 February to 2 March.

Shortly after Carney's visit, the chief of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) clarified in a media interaction that law enforcement is not seeing any connection with any foreign entity based on current criminal data. Verma noted that his own previous assertions as High Commissioner were "unfortunately not accepted by the regime of that particular point of time."

Explaining the current legal landscape, Verma told ANI that the RCMP chief has effectively separated the issues into "two different buckets." He noted that the first involves the investigation into the killing of the Khalistani terrorist, where a court case is ongoing against four Indian nationals.

Verma told ANI, "He (RCMP Commissioner) has kept it in two different buckets. One bucket is the Khalistan terrorist who was killed there. And another bucket is transnational repression and transnational crimes. So these are two buckets. So when you look at the first bucket, so their court case is already on. Charges have been filed against four Indian nationals. These four Indian nationals went to Canada as international students, got to know what happened in the society and they became whatever they have been alleged to have become, and their trial is on."

Regarding the broader allegations, Verma said, "The second bucket is India's overall engagement in Canada, and when I was still serving in Ottawa, a lot of noise was there on India's role in transnational repression as well as transnational crimes in Canada. I always said it is not India's policy to interfere in the internal affairs of any other country. Unfortunately, this was not accepted by the regime of that particular point of time. But I'm very glad to see the statement which came out... I hope that this augurs well with the future relationship of India and Canada."

In late 2024, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) had reacted strongly when Canada labelled Verma and other diplomats as 'persons of interest'. The Indian government dismissed these claims as "preposterous imputations" and attributed them to the "political agenda of the Trudeau Government that is centered around vote bank politics."

New Delhi had consistently argued that the previous Canadian administration failed to provide "a shred of evidence" to support its claims. The MEA had further stated that the aspersions cast on Verma were "ludicrous and deserve to be treated with contempt," accusing the former government of smearing India for narrow political gains.

In a recent interview with CTV, RCMP Commissioner Mike Duheme clarified the current status of their holdings.

He stated, "But it's important for people to report it. If it's not reported, there's little we can do. And I can appreciate sometimes that people are fearful of reporting it. But what I encourage people, if they see something, say something. We're not seeing any connection right now with any foreign entity, based on the criminal information, the investigation that we have presently. What we have in our holdings is we have people that are intimidating people, harassing people, but connecting the dots to a foreign entity. we don't have that."

The efforts by both nations to normalise and fortify their partnership have intensified in recent months. This diplomatic thawing reached a significant milestone during Prime Minister Carney's recent visit to India, marking a new chapter in the bilateral relationship.

- ANI