Facing Murder Plot Accusations, India Aids U.S. but Is Stern With Canada

In both cases of plans targeting Sikh separatists, suspicions of New Delhi’s involvement have arisen. That has put India in a tight diplomatic position.

In a week of geopolitical intrigue, in which Canada broadened its accusations that India was plotting to kill Sikh citizens on its soil and the United States provided incriminating evidence in a similar case, one episode caused a furious rift and the other a more judicious response.

Both investigations pose a conundrum for India.

On Monday, with tensions high, Ottawa expelled six top Indian diplomats, accusing them of being part of a broad criminal network to intimidate and harass Canadian Sikhs. The dispute started last year when a Sikh cleric was fatally ambushed in British Columbia, and Canada pointed fingers at New Delhi.

Indian officials vehemently denied involvement, and have steadfastly argued that they cannot respond to Canada’s accusations unless it offers supporting evidence.

Yet India has been far more accommodating of requests from U.S. federal prosecutors to help in their investigation of a plot to kill a Sikh activist in New York. Indian officials said a “high-level” committee was assisting the Americans.

The reason, analysts say, is basic geopolitics.

“Justin Trudeau and Canada are relative lightweights the Indian government can afford to take liberties with,” said Bharat Karnad, an Indian national security expert affiliated with the New Delhi-based Center for Policy Research.

“But there is a price to pay for alienating Washington,” Mr. Karnad said, particularly given Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “foreign policy pivoting on close relations with America.”

Both cases involved supporters of Khalistan, an independent nation to be carved out of northern India, and suspicions arose that the plots were part of a bigger one involving the government in New Delhi.

S. Jaishankar, India’s minister of external affairs, called the Canadian accusations “egregious,” and Indian officials suggested that Canada’s prime minister, Justin Trudeau, was motivated by domestic politics. When Mr. Trudeau testified before a Canadian committee that the accusations were based on intelligence rather than “evidentiary proof,” many Indians considered it a “gotcha” moment.

“The point that they need to understand, it’s no longer a world that runs as a one-way street,” Mr. Jaishankar told reporters in May. “Newton’s Law of politics will apply,” he said — every action has an equal and opposition reaction, especially from an India prepared to show a more muscular stance geopolitically.

Detailed accusations provided by the U.S. Justice Department on Thursday build on last year’s case. At the time, federal prosecutors accused an unnamed Indian intelligence official of orchestrating a plot to kill Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, a Sikh nationalist who is a citizen of the United States and Canada. India considers Mr. Pannun, the lawyer for a group called Sikhs for Justice, a terrorist.

In the latest set of accusations, American officials identify the intelligence official as Vikash Yadav, an employee of India’s external intelligence agency. The U.S. charges unveiled this week also contain references to the Sikh activist killed last year in British Columbia. That attack, on Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a Canadian citizen, in June 2023 set off the fracas between Canada and India that worsened this week.

Indian officials said on Thursday that Mr. Yadav, the intelligence official, was no longer a government employee.

In both cases, India is likely to face increased pressure to explain its actions. Canada and the United States are members of the Five Eyes intelligence-sharing network, which also includes Australia, Britain and New Zealand. Mr. Trudeau said that Canada had shared the intelligence it gathered on Mr. Nijjar’s killing with the Five Eyes.

This week, the United States backed Canada’s accusations, and Matthew Miller, the State Department spokesman, urged India to take the accusations “extremely” seriously.

“We wanted to see the government of India cooperate with Canada in its investigation,” Mr. Miller said during a news conference. “Obviously, they have not chosen that path.”

Hari Kumar contributed reporting.