India denies Canadian allegation that it uses mobsters to target Sikh separatists in Canada

NEW DELHI (AP) — India's government on Thursday denied it was working with mobsters to target Sikh separatists in Canada as alleged publicly this week by Canadian officials in an escalating diplomatic dispute.

India’s External Affairs Ministry spokesman Randhir Jaiswal denied that India was in cahoots with India-based mobsters in Canada and even suggested that Canadian authorities had been resisting India's attempts to extradite those people to India.

“It is strange that people who we asked to be deported” are being blamed by the Canadians for “committing crimes in Canada,” Jaiswal said.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and police officials went public this week with allegations that Indian diplomats were targeting Sikh separatists in Canada by sharing information about them with their government back home. They said top Indian officials were then passing that information along to Indian organized crime groups who were targeting the activists, who are Canadian citizens, with drive-by shootings, extortions and even murder.

The two sides ordered the expulsion of top diplomats this week in the deepening crisis over the accusations, including Canada’s allegation that t he diplomats were linked to the June 2023 killing of Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar.

The Nijjar killing has soured ties for more than a year, and despite Canada's assertion that it has forwarded evidence of its allegations to Indian authorities, the Indian government continues to deny it has seen any.

Jaiswal said again on Thursday that Canada has provided no evidence of its allegations surrounding attacks on Sikh activists, contradicting Trudeau's statements this week that his country’s investigators have privately shared information with Indian counterparts and found them to be uncooperative.

At the same time, Jaiswal accused Canada of failing to take action against Sikhs living in Canada who face terrorism charges in India and who are accused of being part of a Sikh secessionist campaign in India’s northern Punjab state.

Jaiswal said India’s 26 extradition requests have been pending in Canada for a decade or more. He also said that several criminals had provisional arrest requests pending with Canadian authorities.

"Some of them are charged with terror and terror-related crimes (in India). So far, no action has been taken by the Canadian side on our requests. This is very serious,” Jaiswal said.

India has repeatedly criticized the Canadian government for being soft on supporters of what is known as the Khalistan movement, which is banned in India but has support among the Sikh diaspora, particularly in Canada.

The Royal Canadian Police said Monday it had identified India’s top diplomat in the country and five other diplomats as persons of interest in the Nijjar killing. The RCMP also said they uncovered evidence of an intensifying campaign against Canadians by agents of the Indian government.

Nijjar, 45, was fatally shot last year in his pickup truck after he left the Sikh temple he led in Surrey, British Columbia. An Indian-born citizen of Canada, he owned a plumbing business and was a leader in what remains of a once-strong movement to create an independent Sikh homeland.

Four Indian nationals living in Canada were charged with Nijjar’s murder and are awaiting trial.

Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara Sahib spokesperson and youth leader, Gurkeerat Singh, back forth from left, speaks during a news conference, in Surrey, British Columbia, Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2024. (Darryl Dyck/The Canadian Press via AP)

A photograph of late temple president Hardeep Singh Nijjar, back right, is displayed outside the Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara Sahib in Surrey, British Columbia, Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2024. (Darryl Dyck/The Canadian Press via AP)

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)

A photograph of late temple president Hardeep Singh Nijjar, back right, is displayed outside the Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara Sahib, in Surrey, British Columbia, Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2024. (Darryl Dyck/The Canadian Press via AP)

India denies Canadian allegation that it uses mobsters to target Sikh separatists in Canada

India denies Canadian allegation that it uses mobsters to target Sikh separatists in Canada

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)

ASHEVILLE, N.C. (AP) — Early in-person voting began statewide Thursday in the presidential battleground of North Carolina, including in mountainous areas where thousands of potential voters still lack power and clean running water after Hurricane Helene's epic flooding.

Helene’s arrival three weeks ago in the Southeast decimated remote towns throughout Appalachia and killed at least 246 people, with a little over half of the storm-related deaths in North Carolina. It was the deadliest hurricane to hit the U.S. mainland since Katrina in 2005.

But despite the catastrophic damage, all but four of 80 sites in the 25 western counties hardest hit by the storm were set to open Thursday for the 17-day early vote period — a tremendous achievement according to State Board of Elections Executive Director Karen Brinson Bell, who credited emergency management workers, election officials and utilities.

“It’s an effort all North Carolinians should be proud of,” Brinson Bell said this week.

At the South Buncombe Library in Asheville, a city devastated by the storm, about 60 people — most bundled up in jackets, hats and gloves for the chilly weather, lined up around the building before the polls opened at 9 a.m.

They included 77-year-old Joyce Rich, who said Helene made early voting more urgent for her. Rich said while her house was largely spared by the storm, she and her husband still need to do some work on it. Meanwhile, family members who don’t have power or water access are coming over to take showers.

“We decided, let’s just get it finished,” Rich said. “You never know what’s going to happen.”

Another voter at the library, 33-year-old Jarred Teague, said it was important to show up to vote early, in part because “democracy itself seems to be on the line” during this election.

Early in-person voting, which continues through Nov. 2, is very popular in North Carolina. More than 3.6 million ballots — 65% of all cast ballots — were cast this way in the 2020 general election. In the 2016 election, 62% of all cast ballots were cast during early in-person voting.

Absentee voting in North Carolina began a few weeks ago, with over 67,000 completed ballots turned in so far, election officials said. People displaced by Helene are being allowed to drop off their absentee ballot at any early voting site in the state.

The importance of early voting wasn’t lost upon the presidential campaigns of Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump.

On Thursday, Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Walz was expected to campaign in Winston-Salem and in Durham, where he was to be joined by former President Bill Clinton.

South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, U.S. Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith of Mississippi and Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Whatley were expected to appear on the “Team Trump Bus Tour” when it resumes Thursday in Rutherford County, which was among the hardest-hit areas.

The North Carolina ballot also includes races for governor, attorney general and several other statewide positions. All U.S. House and General Assembly seats also are up for reelection.

County election boards have received flexibility to modify early voting sites, including locations and their daily hours. In Buncombe County, 10 of the 14 planned early voting sites will be open.

In Watauga County, home to Boone and Appalachian State University, the board adjusted early-voting hours to avoid evening travel for voters and poll workers. They also expanded weekend voting options.

Watauga elections Director Matt Snyder said Wednesday having all six sites ready for Thursday was a feat his office didn’t expect in Helene’s immediate aftermath. But election officials have been working weekends to get prepared.

“It’s exhausting,” Snyder said. “It’s 16-hour days ... but everybody seems to pitch in.”

Officials in the 25 counties affected by the storm were still evaluating Election Day polling locations, with the “vast majority” expected to be available to voters, Brinson Bell said.

This is the first presidential general election for which North Carolina voters must show photo identification. Someone who has lost their ID because of the storm can fill out an exception form.

Associated Press writers Gary D. Robertson in Raleigh, North Carolina; Christina A. Cassidy in Atlanta; and Christine Fernando in Chicago contributed to this report.

"I voted!" stickers designed by a young student are seen during early in-person voting, Thursday, Oct. 17, 2024, in Asheville, N.C. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)

Voters discuss sample ballots while waiting in line to cast their early in-person vote, Thursday, Oct. 17, 2024, in Asheville, N.C. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)

A voter marks their ballot during early in-person voting, Thursday, Oct. 17, 2024, in Asheville, N.C. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)

People wait in line for early in-person voting, Thursday, Oct. 17, 2024, in Asheville, N.C. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)

Voters discuss sample ballots while waiting in line to cast their early in-person vote, Thursday, Oct. 17, 2024, in Asheville, N.C. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)

Voters mark their ballots during early in-person voting, Thursday, Oct. 17, 2024, in Asheville, N.C. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)

People wait in line for early in-person voting, Thursday, Oct. 17, 2024, in Asheville, N.C. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)

Voters mark their ballots during early in-person voting, Thursday, Oct. 17, 2024, in Asheville, N.C. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)

A poll worker hangs up signs at an early in-person voting site at Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College, Wednesday, Oct. 16, 2024, in Marshall, N.C. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)

Poll workers set up ballot-marking machines at an early in-person voting site at Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College, Wednesday, Oct. 16, 2024, in Marshall, N.C. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)

Poll workers set up ballot-marking machines at an early in-person voting site at Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College, Wednesday, Oct. 16, 2024, in Marshall, N.C. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)

A ballot-marking machine is seen at an early in-person voting site at Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College, Wednesday, Oct. 16, 2024, in Marshall, N.C. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)