Venu Menon
Wellington, March 14,2024
Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Winston Peters has ended the studied silence maintained by New Zealand over its Five Eyes partner Canada’s claims linking India to the extrajudicial killing of a Sikh separatist leader on Canadian soil last year.
During his official four-day visit to India, which wrapped up on March 13, Peters indicated to local media that there was no evidence to establish India’s complicity in the killing and that Canada’s investigation into the incident was ongoing.
Hardeep Singh Nijjar, designated a terrorist by India, was shot dead outside a gurudwara in British Columbia in Canada in June 2023.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told parliament in September that Canada had intelligence linking Indian officials to the killing of Nijjar.
Coming just days after New Delhi had hosted a G20 summit, the news drew a muted response from Western nations attending the conclave.
But Canada was understood to have shared intelligence on India’s alleged role in the incident with its Five Eyes intelligence sharing alliance partners: the US, UK, Australia and New Zealand.
Initially, Wellington was tight-lipped on the bilateral tensions between India and Canada over the issue, with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT) telling this reporter via an email dated 27 September 2023: “In line with standard practice we do not comment on intelligence matters.”
But the New Zealand government broke its silence following India’s expulsion of Canadian diplomats the following month.
In a Twitter post on October 25, MFAT expressed concern over India’s “demand that Canada reduce its diplomatic presence there.”
A follow-up post on the same day read: “We expect all states to uphold their obligations under the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, including in relation to the privileges and immunities of accredited staff.”
MFAT’s Twitter posts were cautiously worded and steered clear of any reference to Nijjar.
Wellington’s alignment with Ottawa, around the expulsion of Canadian diplomats by India, did not sit well with New Zealand’s new three-party coalition government under Prime Minister Christopher Luxon which formally took office in November 2023.
By falling in line with Washington, London and Canberra, Wellington had distanced itself from New Delhi at a time when the new administration faced heightened expectations among the Kiwi Indian community over New Zealand moving closer to India.
Peters’ just-concluded visit to India, and his pronouncements on a simmering bilateral feud between New Delhi and Ottawa, has secured a diplomatic breakthrough of sorts by drawing New Zealand out of its non-committal stance and compelling it to break its solidarity with other Five Eyes partners, and giving India the benefit of the doubt as to whether New Delhi had a role in the killing of Nijjar or not.
Venu Menon is an Indian Newslink reporter based in Wellington
