India denies minister plotted anti-Sikh attacks in Canada

India on Nov 2 denied that Home Minister Amit Shah plotted to target Sikh activists on Canadian soil, and said it officially rebuked Ottawa over the "absurd and baseless" allegation.

- AFP

Canada is home to the largest Sikh community outside India, including activists for "Khalistan", a fringe separatist movement seeking an independent state for the religious minority carved out of Indian territory.

Ottawa has previously accused India of orchestrating a 2023 killing in Vancouver of 45-year-old naturalised Canadian citizen Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a prominent Khalistan campaigner.

But last week, Canadian officials said Ottawa traced a broader campaign targeting Canadian Sikh activists to the highest levels of India's government, implicating Prime Minister Narendra Modi's powerful right-hand man.

"The government of India protests in the strongest terms to the absurd and baseless references made to the Union Home Minister of India," Foreign Ministry spokesman Randhir Jaiswal said.