The Canadian government has alleged that Indian Minister of Home Affairs Amit Shah was involved in a plot targeting Sikh separatists on Canadian soil.

The allegations were first reported by The Washington Post.

On Tuesday, Canada's deputy foreign affairs minister, David Morrison, told parliament that he was the one who confirmed Shah's name to the newspaper.

"The journalist called me and asked if it was that person. I confirmed it was that person," Morrison told parliament members of the national security committee. He did not reveal how the Canadian authorities came to believe this.

The Indian Embassy in Canada and the Indian Foreign Ministry did not immediately comment on the allegations against Shah.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's national security adviser, Nathalie Drouin, on Tuesday told the committee that Indian authorities in Canada first gathered information on Canadian citizens. 

According to Drouin, the information was then shared with the Indian government in New Delhi which allegedly works with a network affiliated with Lawrence Bishnoi — an imprisoned criminal linked to homicides, assassination plots, coercion and other violent crimes in Canada.

Why are India and Canada at loggerheads?

Last year, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said that his government had evidence that the Indian government was involved in the murder of Canadian Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar in British Columbia in June 2023.

The Canadian authorities have maintained that they have shared the relevant evidence with the Indian authorities. However, the Indian government has repeatedly denied this claim and called the allegations absurd.

Earlier this month, Canada expelled the Indian high commissioner and five

other diplomats, alleging their involvement in the murder of Nijjar.

Nijjar was a Sikh separatist linked to the campaign demanding an independent Sikh state known as Khalistan.

Canada is not the only country that has accused the Indian government of plotting an assassination on foreign soil.

The US has also charged a former Indian intelligence officer in the case of a foiled plot to kill a Sikh separatist leader living in New York City.

mfi/nm (AP, Reuters)