What's troubling about allegations of India’s hand in killing of Khalistani activists in Canada

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has made a big deal of supposed violation of Canadian sovereignty by Indian government agents, by carrying out killings of alleged Khalistani terrorists on Canadian soil, the victims also being Canadian citizens.

Around the world, people thrill at the sight of a British secret agent’s daredevil operations in different countries as he, licensed to kill, hunts down enemies of Britain and kills them, of course, in the service of Queen and country (James Bond appears to be lying low after the arrival of a king in Britain).

The bevy of lovely women Bond beds in the course of his derring-do on Her Majesty’s Secret Service adds glamour to thrill.

A relatively chaste Jason Bourne careens across Europe, eliminating America’s enemies with cold-blooded efficiency. Robert Ludlum’s undercover heroes hold out the fond hope, in addition, that, for men of action, slipping past their 30s into the 40s, and even later, does not detract from their capacity for explosive physical action.

Disruption of ties

India has withdrawn six diplomats from Canada after they were described as persons of interest in the Hardeep Singh Nijjar killing investigations by Canadian investigators, and expelled six Canadian diplomats located in India.

The normal cross border flows between India and Canada – students from India to Canadian universities and investments from Canada’s pension funds to India – might be crimped, as a result of such disruption of ties.

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Western pop culture celebrates the undercover agent and the mayhem he unleashes abroad, violating human rights, national sovereignty and assorted treaty obligations – purely in the service of his nation, of course.

American moves

When former US President Barack Obama ordered his navy seals to take out Osama bin Laden hiding out in an exclusive part of Abbottabad, near Pakistan’s capital, it certainly involved violation of Pakistani sovereignty, even if the victim was not, legally speaking, a Pakistani citizen.

When his successor Donald Trump ordered the drone strike that that killed Major General Qasem Soleimani of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps’s Qudz Force, while on an official visit to Iraq, it violated the sovereignty of Iraq and Iran and broke assorted diplomatic conventions.

Why are the assassins in these instances the good guys, whose actions deserve to be celebrated, if not hero-worshipped, while similar actions by Indian agents abroad are deemed worthy of condemnation and damaging diplomatic relations?

Violent terrorist movement

Khalistan is not just a demand for a separate homeland for Sikhs. It is a violent terrorist movement that sought to create a communal divide between Hindus and Sikhs.

When Khalistani terror ruled Punjab, armed men would stop buses in the night, separate the passengers into Sikhs and the rest, line up the non-Sikhs and shoot them dead.

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Allowing Canadian soil to be used to bring that terror back to India is wholly misconceived, and a hostile move against India. It is probably the case that the Canadian government understands this, and that is why it has adopted the tactic it has.

Trudeau's flip-flop

On the one hand, Trudeau has placated his sizeable Sikh voters by speaking tough against India’s illegal moves to attack Khalistan in Canada. On the other, by denying there is any hard proof that India was involved in the killing, the Canadian government is letting India off the hook.

Why did Trudeau feel emboldened to create a row over Indian attempts to silence Khalistani activists in Canada, in the first place?

There are three reasons, apart from the simple fact that Indian operatives fall distinctly outside the sub-species of humanity that North American lore celebrates as being more equal than other homo sapiens, the one that comprises White, Anglo-Saxon Protestants.

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Three big reasons

One is that the Indian operatives broke the cardinal rule of the game: don’t get caught. Another is that the alleged killing was carried out through a criminal gang that extorts money from the great and the good, threatening to kill them if they do not pony up.

But the most important factor would appear to be Trudeau’s falling popularity and his need to shore up the sizeable Sikh vote in parts of Canada.

The gang named in these shenanigans is the Lawrence Bishnoi gang, which has been blamed for the recent killing of a Maharashtra politician, Baba Siddique, and targeting actor celebrity Salman Khan, besides other crimes.

If the state employs an active criminal gang to do its dirty work, the gang would seek gratitude in the form of protection against serious prosecution for its crimes. The gang might turn its attention on the political opponents of the ruling party, and people would suspect this was part of the original undertaking to eliminate the nation’s enemies.

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Secessionist movements are most effectively defeated politically. The assassination of secessionist leaders only serves to boost the macho claims of the politicians who order the hit, at best, and promote second-rung leaders.

At worst, it can spoil valuable diplomatic relations, and compromise the state’s law enforcement mechanism, when carried out by criminal gangs, rather than by a Desi James Bond counterpart like Tiger or Pathan.

(The Federal seeks to present views and opinions from all sides of the spectrum. The information, ideas or opinions in the article are of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Federal.)