India’s National Investigation Agency (NIA) has formally requested Canada to designate an organization named Sikhs for Justice as a terrorist organization. The NIA held talks with its Canadian law enforcement counterparts in Ottawa this week to provide them with information and dossiers to support their case against Front.
According to Hindustan Times, the request was made earlier this year and the NIA team’s visit to Ottawa was to corroborate India’s claim that the SFJ is promoting violence in India, especially in Punjab, as part of its separatist agenda. Including the leadership of the Punjab plebiscite.
The NIA team was in Ottawa on Thursday and Friday at the invitation of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police or RCMP.
According to a release issued by the High Commission of India in Ottawa, “It also held additional meetings with senior officials from the International Crime and Counter-Terrorism Bureau of Global Affairs Canada and the Department of Public Security for International Affairs, to discuss the issues of terrorism and global terrorist financing.” To deepen and expand India-Canada cooperation on Prohibition.
The release said the visit was “to better coordinate investigations and to discuss other criminal cases against terrorist entities and individuals suspected of terrorism”. It is believed that the team also met with officials from the Canadian Department of Justice.
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The SFJ, through its legal counsel Gurpatwant Pannu, has consistently denied supporting the violence while defending a separate Khalistan.
India’s High Commissioner to Ottawa, Ajay Bisaria, welcomed the visit and tweeted that the “India-Canada Strategic Partnership will also lead to stronger cooperation in crime and terrorism investigation.”
A senior Indian official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Canadian law enforcement was “very responsive” to India’s concerns during the “extensive” discussions and that “a few more entities” were also involved in the talks.
Last week a spokesman for Public Safety Canada, who has been tasked with such listing by the department, said the government “does not disclose which entities are being considered for listing. Support of terrorism”. The evaluation process for listing entities to commit or be involved is ongoing and entities are prioritized for listing based on a variety of reasons, including Canadian national security interests.”
The SFJ is headquartered in New York and is quite influential among pro-Khalistan elements in Canada. India banned SFJs last year under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.
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