Canada has betrayed India; Khalistan is a criminal enterprise, says recalled Indian envoy Sanjay Verma

Sanjay Verma, Indian envoy, was recalled from Canada during an interview with PTI on October 23, 2024 in New Delhi. | Photo credit: PTI

Dismissed Indian High Commissioner Sanjay Verma calls Canada’s behavior “the pit” and says India has been betrayed and treated in a highly unprofessional manner by a country that supposedly is a friendly democracy.

He told PTI that “a handful” of Khalistan supporters have turned the ideology into a criminal enterprise dedicated to a range of activities such as arms smuggling and human trafficking, and that Canadian authorities are still turning a blind eye because they represent a vocal vote bank for local politicians.

In an unexpected downturn in relations, Mr. Verma was declared a “person of interest” by Canada on October 13 as part of its investigation into the June 2023 killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a Canadian citizen declared a Khalistani terrorist by India. Before Canada could take further action, New Delhi recalled Verma and five other diplomats with similar names.

Mr. Verma, an Indian Institute of Technology graduate and nuclear scientist, was previously India’s ambassador to Japan and Sudan.

Asked if he had ever seen anything like this in his 36-year diplomatic career, Verma said: “This is the pit. And that is the most unprofessional approach to a bilateral relationship. If they believe it’s a great relationship for them too, a diplomat has other diplomatic tools at his disposal, and those tools could have been used to make sure things get sorted out…” I’m talking about a lot of other topics at PTIIn his first interview after returning to India, Verma spoke at studios in New Delhi on Wednesday about the emergence of the Khalistani movement in Canada, the support it received from local politicians for electoral gains and the nature of the criminal activities of the Khalistanis to increase their numbers.

“A child who cries the most is fed first by the mother. Even though they are only a handful, they shout the most and receive the most attention from Canadian political supporters,” he said.

Mr. Verma said there were only about 10,000 hardline Khalistanis and supporters numbered about 1 lakh out of a Sikh population of about 8 lakh.

“To get support, they intimidate ordinary Sikhs there, including with threats such as ‘We know where your daughter is studying,'” Mr Verma said.

“The Khalistanis have made Khalistan a business in Canada. In the name of Khalistan, they engage in human trafficking, drug trafficking, arms trafficking, prostitution and everything else. They earn a lot of money from this and also through Gurudwaras and use a part of this money for all nefarious works,” he said.

“Every dirty thing you can imagine is involved.” Recalling the events leading up to the diplomatic standoff, Verma said he was at Toronto airport on Oct. 12 when he received a message from the Canadian Foreign Ministry , asking him to come to their office that same evening. Since he was flying back that evening, Mr. Verma sought time on October 13 when he went with his deputy high commissioner to the Global Affairs Canada office (Ministry of Foreign Affairs).

“After a brief conversation, they informed me that I was involved in the investigation into Nijjar’s assassination along with five other Indian diplomats and officials. And that’s why there was a request to waive my diplomatic immunity and the diplomatic immunity of my colleagues so that we could be interrogated by the RCMP, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the investigative agency there. So I took it as a message,” Mr. Verma said. “That doesn’t happen in diplomacy. In general, there will be some kind of news at first. I didn’t understand that either. And suddenly it was handed to us. So I would say that shows the mistrust, that shows a kind of deceitfulness that our very professional colleagues in Canada have done to us,” he said in the first detailed account of the traumatic hours before he and his colleagues had to pack up and hurry up leave Canada.

“Both are democracies, both are countries governed by the rule of law. We have a lot of diasporic interest in Canada. We are good trading partners, investment partners, etc. So overall, we have done well in our bilateral relations. And that was a shock to me,” he added.

Asked how he took the developments, Verma said: “There was no emotion on my face, not even a wrinkle of worry… I was happy that I didn’t make them feel like this man was sad” or that I was scared.”