Notes

The killer. Believe it or not, Canada’s government says India’s home minister organized the murder of a Sikh separatist—and Canadian citizen—on Canadian soil, through a local mob boss. Strange as it sounds, it’s what Canada’s deputy foreign minister has reported to Parliament. Now, Ottawa has kicked six Indian diplomats out of the country, while Canada’s prime minister has said the killing was part of a campaign to harass and intimidate Sikh activists there.

India denies these allegations—but there are more of them. American officials have charged an Indian intelligence officer with planning the failed assassination of a Sikh activist in the U.S., while British officials have implicated the Indian government in harassing Sikhs in the U.K. What’s this all about?

Today, Omair Ahmad looks at Sikh separatism in India, Delhi’s reaction to it, and how India’s conduct in the West potentially belongs to a bigger shift in Delhi’s international allegiances.

—Michael Bluhm