India-Canada row challenges US resolve in keeping ‘united front’ in region, analysts say

The US faces a delicate balancing act as it seeks to avoid alienating India over the dispute at a time of growing Chinese influence in the region

The row also serves as a ‘warning’ India may not always accept the ‘shared values’ as defined by the US and its allies, analysts add

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Protesters rally outside the Indian High Commission in Ottawa on September 25, 2023. Photo: The Canadian Press via AP

Published: 9:30am, 6 Oct 2023

India’s ongoing diplomatic row with Canada points to the United States’ difficulties in maintaining a “united front” in the region, analysts said, adding that the row is a “warning” that New Delhi does not see eye to eye with Washington and its allies on the concept of “shared values”.

Last month, Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said there were “credible allegations” of India’s involvement in the death of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a 45-year-old Sikh separatist leader who was killed by masked gunmen in June in suburban Vancouver.

For years, India has said Nijjar, a Canadian citizen born in India, has links to terrorism, an allegation Nijjar denied. Delhi has long accused Ottawa of giving free rein to Sikh separatists.

Reports on Tuesday said India asked Canada to remove 41 of its 62 diplomats from the country.

Marc Lanteigne, an associate professor of political science and international relations at the University of Tromsø in Norway, said the row reflected the challenges the US faced in establishing a “true united front” in the region.

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