Amid strained diplomatic ties between New Delhi and Ottawa, Canadian Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs David Morrison on Tuesday alleged that Union Home Minister Amit Shah authorised a “campaign to intimidate or kill” Sikh separatists in Canada, CBC News reported.

Morrison made the remarks at a Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security hearing on the “electoral interference and criminal activities in Canada by agents of the Government of India”.

The committee reviews legislation, policies and expenditure plans of the Canadian government departments responsible for public safety, national security, policing, emergency management, crime prevention and border protection.

Morrison was testifying before legislators on the Royal Canadian Mounted Police’s allegation on October 14 that agents of the Indian government were complicit in widespread crimes in Canada.

At the hearing on Tuesday, the committee referred to The Washington Post report on October 14, which quoted unidentified Canadian officials as saying that Sikh separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar’s killing near Vancouver in June 2023 was “part of a broader campaign of violence against Indian dissidents” orchestrated by a senior Indian official and an operative from the country’s external intelligence agency, the Research and Analysis Wing.

The Canadian officials reportedly identified the Indian official who authorised information-gathering missions and attacks on Sikh separatists as Shah.

“The journalists called me and asked me if it was that person [Shah],” CBC News quoted Morrison telling the committee. “I confirmed it was that person.”

This is the first time that a Canadian official has on record alleged that Shah was involved in the matter.

Royal Canadian Mounted Police Commissioner Mike Duheme also told the committee that evidence showed Indian diplomats and consular staff collected information for the Indian government, CBC News reported.

This information was used to issue instructions to “criminal organisations to carry out acts of violence in Canada”, he added.

Duheme also claimed that there was evidence of credible and imminent threats to members of the South Asian community, specifically supporters of Khalistan, which is an independent nation for Sikhs that some members of the community seek to carve out of India.

The commissioner also said that the police had warned 13 Canadians since September 2023 that they could be targets of harassment or threats by Indian agents, CBC News reported.

Diplomatic ties between India and Canada have been strained for more than a year.

In September 2023, Trudeau told his country’s parliament that intelligence agencies were actively pursuing “credible allegations” tying agents of the Indian government to Nijjar’s killing.

Nijjar was a supporter of Khalistan. He was the head of the Khalistan Tiger Force, which is designated a terrorist outfit in India.

New Delhi had rejected Canada’s allegations as “absurd and motivated” and said they were an attempt by Ottawa to divert attention from the fact that it was providing shelter to those threatening India’s sovereignty. India had also ordered Canada to withdraw more than 40 diplomatic staff from the country.

On October 14, the Indian government said it was withdrawing its High Commissioner Sanjay Kumar Verma and some other diplomats from the North American country. It also announced that it had expelled six Canadian diplomats. Ottawa also said that it had expelled six Indian diplomats, but Delhi maintained that the personnel had been withdrawn before the Canadian decision.

This had come as New Delhi rejected diplomatic communication from Canada naming Verma and other Indian envoys as “persons of interest” in an investigation in the country.

While it was unclear which investigation Ottawa was referring to, reports said that it was related to Nijjar’s killing in Canada.

On October 16, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said that he had intelligence but no “hard evidentiary proof” when he first went public with allegations that Indian government agents may have been involved in Nijjar.