‘Deeply disturbing’: Jagmeet Singh alleges security briefing links India to murders and violent shootings in Canada

OTTAWA—The Indian government of Narendra Modi is tied to murders and violent shootings at Canadian homes and businesses, alleged New Democrat Leader Jagmeet Singh, who received an unclassified security briefing on the latest Canada-India diplomatic rupture.
Singh told reporters the Modi government is “engaging criminal elements in Canada to perpetrate violence against Canadians, including … shooting at Canadians’ homes, killing Canadians, shooting at Canadian businesses, shooting Canadian communities.”
Speaking in Ottawa, Singh, a turban-wearing Sikh whom India has labelled a pro-Khalistan separatism sympathizer, declined to say whether he was personally targeted by any of the Indian activity the RCMP labelled threatening, intimidating and coercive. “It’s not about me,” he told reporters, after he called the RCMP allegations “deeply disturbing.”
The New Democrat leader’s account Tuesday of details shared with him aligns with portions of the reporting Monday by the Star and other news organizations about the RCMP’s concerns that led to Canada’s sudden expulsion on the Thanksgiving holiday of six Indian diplomats and consular officials. 
The Star reported a team of RCMP investigators working with other Canadian police services suspect Indian diplomats and consular officials in Canada were conveying information about the movements and activities of some Sikh Canadians back to Indian intelligence officials in that country’s external intelligence agency, the Research and Analysis Wing, known as RAW.
According to the sources, speaking confidentially in order to discuss Canada’s findings, that information appeared to be then conveyed to a criminal gang in India, whose leader Lawrence Bishnoi is in Indian prison custody but uncharged, and in turn passed on to individuals in Canada who police allege are “agents of India” acting to intimidate, threaten, even kill Indo-Canadians.
In some cases, sources said, pressure tactics included extortion such as demands for money, or threats of visa denials where someone was not deemed co-operative or supportive of the Indian government.
When Prime Minister Justin Trudeau first revealed last year Canadian security officials believed Indian government agents were involved in the shooting death of Hardeep Singh Nijjar outside a Surrey, B.C. gurdwara in June 2023, Canada’s allies were taken aback.
International support for Trudeau was muted, until the U.S. later laid an indictment in a similar case involving an assassination plot in New York City.
On Monday, New Zealand spoke out publicly, where it hadn’t before, with Foreign Minister Winston Peters issuing a statement that said Canada had shared details about the latest criminal investigations, and that “the alleged criminal conduct outlined publicly by Canadian law enforcement authorities, if proven, would be very concerning.”
India ridiculed the allegations levied by Canada against its diplomats as “preposterous,” saying High Commissioner Sanjay Kumar Verma is a respected diplomat. It responded in kind, expelling six Canadian diplomats from India, claiming Canada could not guarantee their security, while it reserved the right to “take further steps” in response.
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre, in a statement Monday after the diplomatic expulsions, called the RCMP allegations “extremely concerning,” saying foreign interference must stop and criminal prosecutions should proceed against “anyone and everyone who has threatened, murdered or otherwise harmed Canadian citizens.”
The RCMP said the diplomats were “persons of interest” in their investigations, and Canada had asked India to waive their diplomatic and consular immunity in order for the Mounties to question them, to no avail.
Poilievre, who also received an unclassified briefing Monday by Trudeau’s national security adviser on the allegations, blamed the Liberal government for failing to “keep our people safe or to take national security and foreign interference seriously. Because of that, Canada has become a playground for these activities.” 
Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet in a written statement blamed past Liberal and Conservative governments for failing to take foreign interference seriously. Both Blanchet and Poilievre’s Conservatives supported a call by Singh for an emergency meeting of the Commons public safety committee to discuss next steps.
Singh recommended the federal government immediately ban RSS, or Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, which he called “a right-wing extremist militant group from India that has branches in other countries, including in Canada, that promotes violence and division.” He also urged Ottawa to levy “severe and strict” sanctions on Indian diplomats, although it was not clear beyond Monday’s declarations of “persona non grata” against six diplomatic and consular officials, whom exactly Singh wished to target.
Canadian officials say they expect some kind of other reprisals by India, but declined to predict what actions it may take. International Trade Minister Mary Ng tried to allay business concerns.
“I understand the effects today’s events may have on Canadians doing business or investing in India, and the uncertainty that some may be feeling at this time. I want to reassure our business community that our government remains fully committed to supporting the well-established commercial ties between Canada and India,” she said in a statement.
India’s ministry of external affairs summoned Canada’s head of mission in India, Stewart Wheeler, and in a statement accused the Trudeau government of taking actions that “endangered” the safety of its diplomats, explaining they were withdrawn “to ensure their security.”
It repeated the claim that the Canadian government has “not shared a shred of evidence” with India on the Nijjar case, contrary to Ottawa’s insistence it has shared evidence, and attributed Canada’s actions to the Trudeau government’s “deliberate strategy of smearing India for political gains.”
It said Trudeau’s government is “hostile” to India, claiming members of his cabinet have “openly associated with an extremist and separatist agenda” espoused by pro-Khalistan separatists. It slammed Singh, suggesting he “openly espouses a separatist ideology vis-à-vis India.”