Memo shows Modi government planned ‘crackdown’

Prime Minister Narendra Modi with Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla and Congress Parliamentary Party Chairperson Sonia Gandhi
Prime Minister Narendra Modi with Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla and Congress Parliamentary Party Chairperson Sonia Gandhi
(ANI Photo/Rahul Singh)
The Indian government allegedly directed its officials to launch a “sophisticated crackdown scheme” on overseas Sikh activists just two months before the assassination of a Sikh Canadian activist whose death Canada has blamed on India, according to a memo obtained by The Intercept.

The memo, which India says is not real, did not direct consular officials to carry out assassinations, but it does show the government of Narendra Modi was urging “concrete measures” be taken by officials “to hold the suspects accountable.” It also includes a list of Sikh dissidents under investigation – and Canadian activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar is on it.

He was gunned down outside his gurdwara, a Sikh place of worship, in Surrey, British Columbia, on June 18.

The memo instructs officials at its consulates to cooperate with Indian intelligence agencies to act against Sikh activists. A US indictment unsealed last month linked murder plots in both Canada and the United States to an unnamed Indian government official.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said in September that Canadian intelligence officials suspected India was behind Nijjar’s murder, prompting furious denials from Modi’s government. On Tuesday, Trudeau said that he decided to publicly reveal Canada’s suspicions “to put a chill” on relations between the two countries after India failed to cooperate. Canada "needed a further level of deterrence, perhaps of saying publicly and loudly that we know, or we have credible reasons to believe, that the Indian government was behind this,” he explained.

In response to Trudeau’s September allegation, India angrily expelled 41 Canadian diplomats, but after the Americans unsealed the indictment linking India to the murder plots, India announced it would investigate the matter. FBI director Christopher Wray is in India this week to try to take “a step towards deepening cooperation.”

The Americans are said to be hoping that India will renounce the practice of carrying out assassinations in friendly countries.

More from GZERO Media

Canada's Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Chrystia Freeland gestures during a press conference before delivering the fall economic update in Ottawa, Canada, November 21, 2023.
REUTERS/Blair Gable/File Photo

Canada’s finance minister and deputy prime minister, Chrystia Freeland, resigned from cabinet Monday morning over differences with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on how Canada should deal with incoming US President Donald Trump.

This footage, published Sunday (29May2022) shows the Frigate Admiral of the Fleet of the Soviet Union Gorshkov conducts a test firing of Zircon hypersonic cruise missile in the Barents Sea. According to the Russian Ministry of Defence, the test firing hit a target in the White Sea. It was part of a test of new Russian weapons. Russian officials claimed the missile successfully hit a sea target located at a distance of about 1,000 km. Where: Russian Federation
Credit: Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation/Cover Images via Reuteers

On Monday, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin warned that he might lift self-imposed restrictions on Russia’s development of short- and medium-range missiles, while warning that the West was pushing on “a red line we can’t step back from.”

French Gendarmerie forces cross a damaged area in the aftermath of Cyclone Chido, in Mayotte, France December 15, 2024.
Gendarmerie Nationale/Handout via REUTERS

France rushed aid to Mayotte on Monday, with death estimates running into the thousands after the most powerful cyclone in nearly a century devastated the small Indian Ocean island overnight.

As the macro landscape evolves and new market dynamics emerge, corporations and investors must understand the trends driving capital allocation, sector shifts, and emerging opportunities to position themselves for success. While there is growing optimism in the market, critical questions persist about geopolitical risks, the impact of tariffs and trade policies, the long-term outlook for the USD, and how to interpret the economic narratives and structural changes likely to shape the immediate future. Get insights from RBC Capital Markets experts on the economy, markets, and deal activity.