EXCLUSIVE: ‘I should not be under protection in a country like this’: Indian High Commissioner

India’s High Commissioner to Canada Dinesh Patnaik discusses Canada-India relations and how PM Carney ‘played a very big role’ in the return to normalcy.

As India and Canada work to reset relations, India’s new high commissioner to Canada is dismissing allegations — made by both the RCMP and former prime minister Justin Trudeau — that linked Indian diplomats to homicides and extortions in this country.

Instead, High Commissioner Dinesh Patnaik says renewed conversations between the two countries have focused on “the entire security situation,” which he says includes the Sikh separatist movement.

“What we are talking about now are the different security scenarios that is happening in this country,” Patnaik said in an exclusive broadcast interview with CTV Question Period airing Sunday.

“Security scenarios where there is a group of people who are actually terrorizing, keeping the relationship under hostage,” he claimed. “How do we deal with them? How do we deal with the law-and-order situation?”

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his government have long condemned the pro-Khalistan movement, which supports the establishment of an independent Sikh state in India, and has been critical of Canada for not opposing Sikh separatism within its own borders.

In 2023, Trudeau pushed back against those claims.

“They are wrong,” he said at the time. “Canada has always taken extremely seriously violence and threats of violence. We have always taken serious action against terrorism, and we always will.”

Speaking to host Vassy Kapelos, Patnaik spoke at length about “the bigger discussions,” which he says is the safety of Canadians in India.

“Canada cannot look at this situation as an Indian problem. It’s a Canadian problem. There are Canadians who are creating this problem,” Patnaik said.

“I find it strange that a high commissioner here has to be under protection,” he also said. “I’m under protection. I should not be under protection in a country like this.”

Earlier this week, Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand met with Modi in India. Following the meeting, both countries signed a statement outlining areas in which they want to co-operate, including trade and artificial intelligence.

When asked by reporters on Tuesday about what she said to Modi when it comes to the targeting of the Sikh community in Canada, Anand said “public safety concerns are the first and foremost priority of the Government of Canada.”

“I raised at all points issues relating to transnational repression, issues relating to the safety and security of every Canadian citizen, and the importance of an independent legal investigation that must always investigate crimes that have occurred on Canadian soil,” Anand insisted.

Following Anand’s meetings in India, the Sikh Federation of Canada alleged the safety of Sikhs across Canada “are being used as a bargaining chip.”

“Deepening economic and diplomatic ties while Sikh activists continue to face threats from Indian agents is not responsible diplomacy, it is an incentive for further abuses and a recipe for destabilization in South Asia,” Sikh Federation of Canada President Moninder Singh wrote in a statement.

High Commissioner calls allegations ‘absurd’

Relations between Canada and India have been strained since 2023, when Trudeau said there were “credible allegations” that agents of the Indian government were involved in the assassination of Canadian Sikh leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar earlier that year.

A year later, the RCMP and the federal government accused Indian diplomats and consular officials based in Canada of engaging in clandestine activities linked to serious criminal activity in this country, including homicides and extortions.

In response to those allegations, Canda expelled six diplomats, including former high commissioner Sanjay Kumar Verma, while India kicked out six Canadian diplomats in retaliation.

India has denied any involvement, and Canadian officials have previously said India refused to co-operate in an investigation.

But in June, RCMP Commissioner Mike Duheme described ongoing talks with Indian officials as “good” and “positive.”

National Security and Intelligence Advisor Nathalie Drouin, meanwhile, met with her Indian counterpart in India last month, during which “respective security concerns” were discussed, according to a statement.

Asked directly by Kapelos whether India is cooperating in an investigation, Patnaik acknowledged that security officials are in “the process of building up the relationship again,” but called the allegations “preposterous and absurd” and “without any substantial evidence.”

Pressed again on the allegations, Patnaik insisted India is “still waiting for any evidence to be given.”

When asked specifically — based on the RCMP allegations — whether he can assure members of the Sikh community that they will not be targeted moving forward, Patnaik said “they never were.”

“We never do,” he also said. “Extra-territorial action by India is never done.”

In a separate interview on CTV Question Period airing Sunday, when pressed multiple times on whether the return of Indian diplomats to Canada poses a risk to Canadians, Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree wouldn’t answer directly.

“We will do what it takes to ensure the safety and security of Canadians, but we will also ensure that we have bilateral relations that does allow us to not just have these conversations, but also to build an element of trust where we can move forward the issues around the last year and a half, two years,” Anandasangaree said.

Anandasangaree also said Canada needs “to ensure that those who are responsible are held to account” and pointed to Canada listing The Bishnoi Gang — a transnational criminal organization operating primarily out of India — as a terrorist entity earlier this year.

CTV News has reached out to the RCMP on Patnaik’s claims that India is still waiting for evidence and have not yet received a response.

You can watch the exclusive broadcast interview with High Commissioner Dinesh Patnaik on CTV Question Period this Sunday at 11ET/8PT on CTV and CTV News Channel.