How did a killing at a Sikh temple lead to Canada and India expelling each other's diplomats?

NEW DELHI (AP) — Relations between India and Canada are at a low point as the countries expelled each other's top diplomats over an ongoing dispute about the killing of a Sikh activist in Canada.

Canada said it had identified India’s top diplomat in the country as a person of interest in an assassination plot and expelled him and five other diplomats Monday. India has rejected the accusations as absurd, and its foreign ministry said it was expelling Canada’s acting high commissioner and five other diplomats in response.

It’s the latest in an escalating dispute over the June 2023 killing of Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar.

Nijjar was fatally shot in his pickup truck in June 2023 after he left the Sikh temple he led in the city of Surrey, British Columbia. An Indian-born citizen of Canada, he owned a plumbing business and was a leader in a movement to create an independent Sikh homeland, which is banned in India.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said in September 2023 there were credible allegations that India’s government had links to the killing. India denied the allegations at the time but said Nijjar was involved in “terrorism.”

Canada expelled an Indian diplomat over the dispute last year, and in response India expelled a Canadian diplomat and froze consular services for Canadians for nearly two months.

Tensions boiled over again in May, when Canadian police said they had arrested three Indian nationals accused of involvement in Nijjar’s killing and were “investigating if there are any ties to the government of India.” India rejected the allegations, saying Canada had a “political compulsion” to blame India.

Now, Canada says that India's top diplomat in the country is a person of interest in the killing, and that police have uncovered evidence of an intensifying campaign against Canadian citizens by agents of the Indian government.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police said it had found evidence of the involvement of Indian agents “in serious criminal activity in Canada," including links “to homicides and violent acts” and interference in Canada's democratic processes, among other things.

Meanwhile, Canada’s foreign minister, Mélanie Joly, tied the Indian officials to Nijjar's assassination and said Canada had gathered “ample, clear and concrete evidence which identified six individuals as persons of interest in the Nijjar case.”

She said India had been asked to waive diplomatic immunity and cooperate in the investigation but refused.

In a statement Monday, India’s foreign ministry said that the Canadian government “has not shared a shred of evidence” with the Indian government, “despite many requests from our side.” The ministry also called the accusations part of “a deliberate strategy of smearing India for political gains.”

Nijjar was a local leader in what remains of a once-strong movement to create an independent Sikh homeland known as Khalistan. The Khalistan movement is banned in India, but has support among the Sikh diaspora, particularly in Canada.

India designated Nijjar a terrorist in 2020, and at the time of his death was seeking his arrest for alleged involvement in an attack on a Hindu priest in India.

New Delhi’s anxieties about Sikh separatist groups in Canada have long been a strain on the relationship, but the two countries have maintained strong defense and trade ties, and share strategic concerns over China’s global ambitions. However, India has increasingly accused Canada of giving free rein to Sikh separatists.

Sikhs make up nearly 2% of Canada's population, and more than a dozen are members of the country's parliament.

People wait outside the Canadian high commission in New Delhi, India, Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2024 after India and Canada expelled each other’s top diplomats over an ongoing dispute about the killing of a Sikh activist in Canada. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)

A cyclist pedals past the Canadian high commission in New Delhi, India, Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2024 after India and Canada expelled each other’s top diplomats over an ongoing dispute about the killing of a Sikh activist in Canada. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)

Policemen guard a road leading to the Canadian high commission in New Delhi, India, Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2024 after India and Canada expelled each other’s top diplomats over an ongoing dispute about the killing of a Sikh activist in Canada. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)

The High Commission of India in Canada is seen in Ottawa, Ontario, Monday, Oct. 14, 2024. (Justin Tang/The Canadian Press via AP)

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau listens as Minister of Foreign Affairs Melanie Joly speaks at a news conference on the investigative efforts related to violent criminal activity occurring in Canada with connections to India, on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, on Monday, Oct. 14, 2024. (Justin Tang/The Canadian Press via AP)

FILE -Members of Sikh community hold a protest against the killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, in Lahore, Pakistan, Sept. 20, 2023. (AP Photo/K.M. Chaudary, File)

FILE -People sit on the lawn of the the Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara, below a picture of Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Surrey, B.C. on Friday, May 3, 2024. (Ethan Cairns/The Canadian Press via AP, File)

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, centre, Minister of Public Safety, Democratic Institutions and Intergovernmental Affairs Dominic LeBlanc, left, and Minister of Foreign Affairs Melanie Joly participate in a news conference on the investigative efforts related to violent criminal activity occurring in Canada with connections to India, on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Ontario, Monday, Oct. 14, 2024. (Justin Tang/The Canadian Press via AP)

FILE - Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, left, walks past India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi as they take part in a wreath-laying ceremony at Raj Ghat, Mahatma Gandhi's cremation site, during the G20 Summit in New Delhi, Sept. 10, 2023. (Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press via AP, File)

MAGDEBURG, Germany (AP) — Germany on Saturday was still in shock and struggling to understand the suspect behind the attack in the city of Magdeburg.

Identified by local media as 50-year-old Taleb A., a psychiatry and psychotherapy specialist, authorities said he has been living in Germany for two decades. He was arrested on site after plowing a black BMW into a Christmas market crowded with holiday shoppers Friday evening, killing at least five people and wounding about 200 others.

Prominent German terrorism expert Peter Neumann posted on X that he had yet to come across a suspect in an act of mass violence with that profile.

Taleb’s X account is filled with tweets and retweets focusing on anti-Islam themes and criticism of the religion while sharing congratulatory notes to Muslims who left the faith. He also described himself as a former Muslim.

He was critical of German authorities, saying they had failed to do enough to combat the “Islamism of Europe.”

He has also voiced support for the far-right and anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany (AfD) party.

Some described Taleb as an activist who helped Saudi women flee their homeland. Recently, he seemed focused on his theory that German authorities have been targeting Saudi asylum seekers.

Neumann, the terrorism expert, wrote: “After 25 years in this ‘business’ you think nothing could surprise you anymore. But a 50-year-old Saudi ex-Muslim who lives in East Germany, loves the AfD and wants to punish Germany for its tolerance towards Islamists — that really wasn’t on my radar."

A person stands by flowers and candles placed outside St. John's Church near a Christmas Market, where a car drove into a crowd on Friday evening, in Magdeburg, Germany, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)