Octopus Overlords

Zaheer Ahmed had just returned home from work in northern India last Friday afternoon and stepped out for a smoke before lunch.

Minutes later, he was dead, shot in the head.

His death, and the killing by gunfire of four other Muslim men the same afternoon in the mainly Muslim neighborhood, made it the most intense burst of violence in two weeks of protests.

India has been convulsed by the broadest unrest in at least seven years after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist government brought in a law that many see as discriminatory against Muslims, who make up 14 percent of the population.

All of the families of the five dead men say they were shot and killed by police as a protest flared against the new law. Reuters could not independently verify those accounts, and none of the more than 20 individuals Reuters interviewed saw police open fire.
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Residents say police broke several CCTV cameras in the area before the violence began.

Reuters was unable to independently verify those accounts, but did review CCTV footage from two cameras on shops in the area. In both cases, the footage ends abruptly after a policeman waving a baton is seen trying to hit the cameras.

Akhilesh Singh, the police superintendent of the Meerut City zone, said police had not destroyed any cameras and that all of the victims were involved in what he called rioting.

“Obviously they must be in the midst of the violence. That’s why they must have been killed,” Singh told Reuters.

The Citizenship Amendment Act, passed in December, creates a legal loophole for persecuted religious minorities who belong to Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi or Christian religious communities — but not Islam — eligible for citizenship.

People from these communities “shall not be treated as illegal migrants”, according to the law, which was designed to help minority groups who have come to India from Muslim-majority states such as Afghanistan, Bangladesh or Pakistan.

It is the first time that India has incorporated religious criteria into its naturalisation or refugee policies.

Mr Modi’s government said the rules were designed to give religious minorities facing Muslim persecution refuge in India. It views the law as helping to complete unfinished business from partition in 1947, when India and Pakistan were split. It wants to provide a right of return for Hindus. “It’s their natural home,” said Swapan Dasgupta, a ruling party MP, who supported the bill. “These people look at India as ‘mother India’.”
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The NRC has been implemented in the north-eastern state of Assam, where almost 1.9m people were stripped of citizenship, many of them Hindus. The new law would allow them to claim citizenship, but not Muslims, who are unlikely to find asylum in neighbouring countries. New Delhi has started constructing detention centres in Assam, sparking panic among Muslims who worry they do not have the necessary documents to prove citizenship.

“Giving shelter to persecuted minorities is a welcome move but the argument implicit in this is that India is the natural home for some religious communities and not for others,” said Ali Khan Mahmudabad, a spokesman for the Uttar Pradesh-based Samajwadi party, which counts Muslims among its supporters, in a recent editorial.

Calling the law India’s “Nuremberg moment”, Mr Khan said “this goes against the spirit and letter of the Indian constitution, which grants all persons equality before the law”.

Mistrust runs deep between the nuclear-armed neighbors, but Pakistan had a low-key response to what India called a “technical malfunction.” No casualties were reported.

India has stopped issuing visas to Canadian citizens amid an escalating row over the killing of a Sikh separatist on Canadian soil.

India said the temporary move was due to "security threats" disrupting work at its missions in Canada. Canada's visa services remain open in India.

Tensions flared this week after Canada's leader said India may have been involved in the 18 June killing.

India angrily rejected the allegation calling it "absurd".

Relations between the countries - key trade and security partners, and US allies - have been strained for months. Analysts say they are now at an all-time low.
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The row burst into the open on Monday after Canada linked India with the murder of separatist leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a Canadian citizen who was shot dead in his vehicle by two masked gunmen outside a Sikh temple in British Columbia.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Canada's intelligence agencies were investigating whether "agents of the government of India" were involved in the killing of Nijjar - who India designated a terrorist in 2020.

The Canadian government has amassed both human and signals intelligence in a months-long investigation of a Sikh activist's death that has inflamed relations with India, sources tell CBC News.

That intelligence includes communications involving Indian officials themselves, including Indian diplomats present in Canada, say Canadian government sources.

The intelligence did not come solely from Canada. Some was provided by an unnamed ally in the Five Eyes intelligence alliance.

United States authorities thwarted a plot to kill a Sikh separatist in the United States and issued a warning to India over concerns the government in New Delhi was involved, a senior Biden administration official said.
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White House spokesperson Adrienne Watson said Indian officials expressed "surprise and concern" when they were informed about the incident.

“We are treating this issue with utmost seriousness, and it has been raised by the U.S. government with the Indian government, including at the senior-most levels," Watson said.

"They stated that activity of this nature was not their policy ... We understand the Indian government is further investigating this issue and will have more to say about it in the coming days. We have conveyed our expectation that anyone deemed responsible should be held accountable,” she said.

Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, who says he is a dual citizen of the United States and Canada, was the target of the foiled plot, according to the senior administration official.

News of the incident comes two months after Canada said there were "credible" allegations linking Indian agents to the June murder of a Sikh separatist leader, Hardeep Singh Nijjar, in a Vancouver suburb, something India has rejected.

Isgrimnur wrote: ↑Thu Nov 23, 2023 12:22 am US thwarted plot to kill Sikh separatist in America

GreenGoo wrote: ↑Thu Nov 23, 2023 10:14 am

Isgrimnur wrote: ↑Thu Nov 23, 2023 12:22 am US thwarted plot to kill Sikh separatist in America

Sikh separatist killed in Canada in October

I hope we were able to help the US on this.

NEW DELHI, Oct 3 (Reuters) - India has asked Canada to reduce its diplomatic staff in the country by more than half, the Financial Times reported on Tuesday, with ties fraying after Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau publicly levelled suspicions that Indian agents were involved in the killing of a Sikh separatist leader in Canada.

Hardeep Singh Nijjar was shot dead by unidentified gunmen outside a Sikh temple on June 18 in a Vancouver suburb. India had designated him as a “terrorist” three years earlier.

Here's a list of diplomatic and trade actions taken by the two nations so far:

* Canada paused talks on a proposed trade treaty with India, a Canadian official said on Sept. 1, an unexpected move that came about three months after both countries said they planned to seal an initial pact this year.

* Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi conveyed strong concerns about Sikh separatist protests in Canada to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on the sidelines of a G20 summit in New Delhi on Sept. 10.

* Canada postponed a trade mission to India planned for October led by Trade Minister Mary Ng, a spokesperson for the minister said on Sept. 15. Canada's decision to halt trade treaty talks and postpone the mission was due to concerns surrounding the murder, a Canadian source told Reuters.

* Trudeau told parliament on Sept. 18 that Canada was "actively pursuing credible allegations" linking Indian government agents to the killing of Nijjar, a Canadian citizen campaigning for the creation of an independent Sikh homeland carved out of India.

* India dismissed Trudeau's assertion as "absurd" on Sept. 19. Both countries expelled a diplomat in tit-for-tat moves, with Canada throwing out India's top intelligence officer in the country while India expelled his Canadian counterpart.

* India urged its citizens in Canada to exercise caution in a statement on Sept. 20, as the U.S., Australia and Britain expressed concerns about the issue.

* India's JSW Steel Ltd (JSTL.NS) is slowing down the process to buy a stake in the steelmaking coal unit of Canada's Teck Resources (TECKb.TO), Reuters reported on Sept. 21 citing a source close to the discussions.

* India suspended issuing new visas for Canadians on Sept. 22 and asked Ottawa to reduce its diplomatic presence in India.

* Fertiliser importer Indian Potash said on Sept. 22 that it does not expect supplies of Canadian potash to be affected by the row and that it hopes to extend a contract with Canadian supplier Canpotex beyond the end of September. Canada is one of the key suppliers of potash to India.

* Canadian lentil sales to India slowed after tensions rose between the two nations, industry sources in both countries told Reuters. Canada is India's main import source of lentils, a protein-rich staple.

* India's steel secretary told reporters on Sept. 28 that Indian exports to Canada were marginal and have not been affected by the diplomatic row.

Canadian police on Friday arrested and charged three Indian men with the murder of Sikh separatist leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar last year and said they were probing whether the men had ties to the Indian government.
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The Royal Canadian Mounted Police named the three men as Karanpreet Singh, 28, Kamalpreet Singh, 22 and Karan Brar, 22.
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The trio, all Indian nationals, were arrested in the city of Edmonton in Alberta on Friday, police said. They are due to arrive in British Columbia by Monday.

Trudeau announced in September that Canadian authorities were pursuing allegations linking Indian government agents to the murder. New Delhi rejected Trudeau's claim as absurd.

"We welcome the arrests but this does lead to a lot more questions," said Balpreet Singh, legal counsel and spokesperson for the Canada-based World Sikh Organization advocacy group.