Canadian Khalistanis target Indian students: Sanjay Verma cautions parents

Appealing to parents, India's recalled High Commissioner to Canada, Sanjay Kumar Verma, reportedly warned that Indian students in Canada were facing different types of negative influences

India's recalled High Commissioner to Canada, Sanjay Kumar Verma, on Thursday cautioned Indian students in Canada, advising that they "should be aware of their surroundings" and resist attempts by Khalistani terrorists and extremists to radicalise them. 

 

Speaking to NDTV, Verma urged the parents of Indian students in Canada to "talk to them regularly" and to "try to understand" their situation. He added that they should guide these students away from unwise choices. 

 

Stating that there is a threat from Khalistani terrorists to the larger Indian community in Canada at present, Verma said that this threat also extends to the students, of whom he said there were around 319,000 as of 2023. 

 

 

Explaining how attempts by Khalistani terrorists to influence Indian students in Canada work, Verma said that given the condition of the Canadian economy, there are few jobs in the country, and so the students being targeted "are offered money and food" by Khalistani terrorists and extremists, who are trying to "influence them with nefarious plans". 

 

Verma added that some students have also been persuaded by Khalistanis to take photographs or videos of themselves shouting anti-India slogans or insulting the Indian flag outside Indian diplomatic buildings in Canada. After that, according to Verma, these students are then "told to go seek asylum", with the students believing that they will be "punished" if they go back to India. He added that there have been cases of such students being given asylum by Canada.  

 

Appealing to parents, Verma warned that Indian students in Canada are facing different types of negative influences, which are pushing them in the wrong direction. 

 

Verma's comments on Thursday come amid the deteriorating diplomatic relationship between India and Canada because of the repeated claims made by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau that New Delhi's "agents" are conspiring with criminal gangs, including the Lawrence Bishnoi outfit, to "target South Asians" in that country. 

 

The first public blow to bilateral ties came in September last year, when Trudeau alleged "credible allegations" that the Government of India was involved in the killing of Khalistani separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a Canadian citizen. 

 

Nijjar, designated a terrorist by India's National Investigation Agency in 2020, was shot and killed in Surrey in June last year. 

 

For its part, New Delhi has firmly dismissed any links to Nijjar's killing, describing Ottawa's allegations as "absurd" and "malicious." India has also repeatedly said that neither Trudeau nor his government has provided it with any concrete evidence. 

 

India-Canada ties hit a fresh low this month after Canadian police identified  Verma -- India's most senior serving diplomat --  as a 'person of interest' in cases of "homicide, extortion, intimidation, and coercion".  

 

In response, New Delhi recalled Verma, who was appointed as High Commissioner to Canada in September 2022, along with five of his staff and retaliated by expelling six Canadian diplomats, including Acting High Commissioner Stewart Ross Wheeler.  

 

Canada also designated Verma 'persona non grata' -- a diplomatic term meaning a 'person who is no longer welcome'. Verma is the first Indian diplomat to be treated as such.