Canada’s behaviour ‘the pits’: Ex-envoy Sanjay Verma details ‘business of Khalistan’

The high commissioner India recently recalled from Canada, Sanjay Verma, has called that country’s behaviour “the pits” and said India was back-stabbed and treated in a most unprofessional manner by the so-called friendly democracy.

Canada, investigating the June 2023 killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a Canadian citizen declared a Khalistani terrorist by India, unexpectedly declared Verma a “person of interest” last week. Before Canada could take further action, New Delhi recalled Verma and five other diplomats who were also similarly named.

“Most unprofessional approach to a bilateral relation”

“This is the pits. This is the most unprofessional approach to a bilateral relation. There are diplomatic tools available in the hands of a diplomat. Those tools could have been used (instead of seeking to interrogate a country’s diplomats),” Verma said in an interview to PTI Video on Wednesday (October 23).

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Verma also spoke about the support the Khalistani movement has been getting from local politicians in Canada for electoral gains, and the kind of criminal activities the Khalistanis carry out to increase their numbers.

Extreme hardline Khalistanis only about 10,000

“A child that cries the most gets fed first by the mother. Similarly, even though they are only a handful, they shout the most and get the most attention from Canadian political backers,” he said.

Verma said the extreme hardline Khalistanis are only about 10,000 in number, and supporters amount to perhaps 1 lakh in a Sikh population of about 8 lakhs. “To get support, they intimidate commons Sikhs there, including with threats such as ‘we know where your daughter is studying’,” Verma said.

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The “business of Khalistan”

“The Khalistanis have made Khalistan into a business in Canada. In the name of Khalistan, they do human trafficking, drug trafficking, gun-running, and all. They earn a lot of money through that and also through gurudwaras, and they use a part of that money for all nefarious jobs,” he said.

In another interview to NDTV, Verma said there is a threat from Khalistani extremists to the larger Indian community in Canada, including students. He urged Indian students in Canada to be “aware of their surroundings” and urged their parents to talk to them regularly and guide them away from radicalisation attempts made by Khalistani extremists.

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Students, parents need to be careful

He added Khalistani terrorists offer students money and food, making them feel obligated to do their bidding. Sometimes, students are persuaded to “protest” by shouting anti-India slogans or insulting the tricolour outside Indian diplomatic buildings in Canada and record themselves in the process.

These students then make it a case for seeking asylum, Verma told NDTV, adding that Canada is known to grant such asylum too.

(With agency inputs)