Is Canada the new Pakistan for India? Trudeau's actions bear eerie similarities

In his speech at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) in Islamabad, external affairs minister S Jaishankar on Wednesday stressed on the need to counter the "three evils" of "terrorism, extremism and separatism."

Jaishankar's mention of cross-border terrorism was a jab at Pakistan but the words "extremism" and "separatism" clearly had Canada connotations.

The issue of Canada allowing pro-separatist groups to operate freely on its soil has long been a point of friction between New Delhi and Ottawa.

It came to a point where Canada-based extremists were openly threatening Indian envoys and defacing temples with impunity.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's allegation in 2023 that Indian envoys had a role in the killing of Khalistani extremist Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Canada became the spark that lit the powder keg.

India called the allegations "absurd" and lambasted Trudeau for using the so-called murder plot to advance his domestic political agenda.

Risking a diplomatic fallout without any hard evidentiary proof, as Trudeau himself admitted, appears to be a calculated strategy aimed at vote-bank politics and shaping public narratives.

In that vein, Canada's recent moves are a facsimile of the policy Pakistan has pursued for decades over the Kashmir situation.

India's 'new Pakistan'

Canada is home to nearly 770,000 Sikhs, making them the fourth-largest ethnic group in the country. A vocal faction in the community supports the idea of Khalistan, which is at the root of the separatist movement.

The movement is propogated by some Sikh extremists in Canada, who have often resorted to terror to realize their nefarious objectives.

India is no stranger to these designs, having dealt with Pakistan-backed separatists in Jammu and Kashmir for decades.

However, Trudeau administration's tacit to support to these elements have complicated bilateral matters.

In a no-holds barred statement after Canada identified Indian envoys as "persons of interest" in the Nijjar probe, the ministry of external affairs outlined a series of actions by Trudeau which clearly point to his government's "anti-India separatist agenda".

Speaking to Al Jazeera, Harsh Pant, vice president for studies and foreign policy at the Observer Research Foundation (ORF), said Canada has become the "new Pakistan for India".

"Trudeau seems to have become emblematic of the problem with a lack of trust about him and his intentions from India’s perspective," he said, noting that India and Canada ties have plunged to new lows.

“Canada is now the new Pakistan for New Delhi amid the persistent issues of extremism, Sikh separatism and radicalisation in Canada,” he said.

Michael Kugelman, director of US-based Wilson Center’s South Asia Institute, said that India is now giving Canada the Pakistan-treatment.

“India has started to treat Canada like it treats Pakistan – at least in terms of blistering diplomatic statements and the accusations that Canada is sponsoring terrorism,” he said.

Kugelman noted that India's ties with Canada currently are perhaps even worse than its relationship with Pakistan.

He spoke about the internal political dynamics in Canada that have contributed to the diplomatic rift, saying, "There are a lot of factors at play here. Certainly, one could acknowledge the relevance of the domestic political realities in Canada."

Unlike Pakistan, where the deep state heavily influences foreign policy, Canada's diplomatic tensions with India are primarily orchestrated by Trudeau and his ministers.

On its part, India has also been careful in singling out Trudeau over the allegations and not projecting the issue as a bilateral enmity.

On Thursday, MEA said that the current crisis in India-Canada relationship has been precipitated by the Trudeau government's baseless allegations. Earlier too, it slammed Trudeau for pushing his anti-India separatist agenda for "narrow political gains".

The messaging is clear that Trudeau is the sole perpetrator of the bilateral crisis.