India reads the riot act to Canada after posters threatening PM, EAM appear at Nijjar Gurudwara

The Union ministry of home affairs has upgraded the security of external affairs minister S Jaishankar to Z category, people familiar with the matter said, over new posters put up by Khalistani groups in Canada that carry the images of the minister, along with those of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in calling for their assassination.

Khalistani group Sikhs for Justice (SFJ) put up these posters on Tuesday, announcing a “referendum” on whether a separate State should be carved out of India, outside the Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara in Surrey, British Columbia, where Hardeep Singh Nijjar was killed by unidentified men on June 18 in an alleged gang war. According to the posters, people aware of the matter said, a “referendum” will be held in Vancouver on October 29, after a protest that will be launched on October 21 from Surrey to the Indian consulate.

The posters, one of the people cited above said, previously called for the assassination of the Indian high commission to Canada Sanjay Kumar Verma, and consul generals Manish and Apoorva Srivastava.

The Union ministry of home affairs has upgraded the security of external affairs minister S Jaishankar to Z category, people familiar with the matter said, over new posters put up by Khalistani groups in Canada that carry the images of the minister, along with those of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in calling for their assassination.

Proscribed Khalistani group Sikhs for Justice (SFJ) put up these posters on Tuesday, announcing a “referendum” on whether a separate State should be carved out of India, outside the Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara in Surrey, British Columbia, where Hardeep Singh Nijjar was killed by unidentified men on June 18 in an alleged gang war.

According to the posters, people aware of the matter said, a “referendum” will be held in Vancouver on October 29, after a protest that will be launched on October 21 from Surrey to the Indian consulate.

The posters, one of the people cited above said, previously called for the assassination of the Indian high commission to Canada Sanjay Kumar Verma, and consul generals Manish and Apoorva Srivastava.

Their appearance comes at a time when Khalistani extremist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun equated the secessionist movement with the situation in Palestine, saying that the SFJ will carry out Hamas-like attacks.

“The Canadian high commissioner to India, Cameron MacKay, was summoned to South Block on Wednesday and a protest was conveyed. The protest note asked the Trudeau government to immediately pull down the posters at Surrey Gurudwara, investigate the threat to PM, EAM and India’s too diplomat in Canada and then take strong action against the guilty. Simultaneously a protest was conveyed to Global Affairs Canada in Ottawa at the same time,” a second person said.

Officials familiar with the development said that Jaishankar will now be guarded by the VIP security wing of the Central Reserve Security Force (CRPF), which guards around 176 people in the country, with the highest threat perception.

A Delhi Police officer, on condition of anonymity, said that police too had received inputs of threats to Jaishankar from separatist groups.

Nijjar’s death turned into an unprecedented diplomatic crisis when Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau claimed on September 18 that there may be a “potential link” between Indian government agents and the killing of Nijjar, a Canadian citizen. India has dismissed the accusation as “absurd and motivated”.

India also suspended new visas for Canadians on September 22.

On October 3, Canada’s foreign minister Melanie Joly said Canada wants private talks with India to resolve the diplomatic dispute, which has since snowballed with India asking Ottawa to withdraw 41 diplomats.

Trudeau said Ottawa was not looking to escalate the dispute. “We’re taking this extremely seriously, but we’re going to continue to engage responsibly and constructively within with the government of India,” he told reporters separately the same day. Canada, however, has not shared any credible evidence with India.