US-based senior defence analyst Derek J Grossman recently stated that Canada’s allegations against the Indian government’s involvement in the fatal shooting of Khalistan Tiger Force chief Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Canada could be the most significant test of strength of US-India partnership since the early 2000s. The national security and Indo-Pacific analyst at RAND Corporation, an American nonprofit global policy think tank, believes that the US will strive to maintain a close alliance with India to counter China, which might mean staying out of this situation.

Canada’s allegations have been deemed ‘explosive’ by Vivek Dehejia, an economics professor at Carleton University in Ottawa. He highlights the potential impact of these accusations on the already strained bilateral relationship between India and Canada, as well as the effect on the Indo-Canadian diaspora.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau recently accused the Indian government of being behind the fatal shooting of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, who was wanted in India. Nijjar was gunned down outside a Gurdwara in Surrey, British Columbia on June 18. He was declared an ‘absconder’ by the National Investigation Agency (NIA).

Michael Kugelman, the South Asia Institute Director at the Wilson Center, considers Canada’s allegations against India to be reflective of a highly fraught relationship. He highlights Trudeau’s direct accusation in the House of Commons and the public identification of an Indian diplomat expelled by Canada as the head of Indian intelligence in the country.

Trudeau claims that Canada’s national security officials have reason to believe that ‘agents of the Indian government’ orchestrated the killing of the Canadian citizen and Sikh Gurdwara president, Hardeep Singh Nijjar. He describes any foreign government involvement in the killing of a Canadian citizen on Canadian soil as an ‘unacceptable violation of sovereignty’.

India has rejected the allegations made by Trudeau, labeling them as absurd and motivated. The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) issued an official statement emphasizing that such claims are baseless and that India is a democratic nation with a strong commitment to the rule of law.