India issues travel advisory against trips to Canada amid diplomatic row

Khalistan group issues threats demanding Hindu Indians leave Canada as Indian media organisations misrepresent Canada’s travel advisory update to India

Canada’s prime minister Justin Trudeau (left) walks past Indian prime minister Narendra Modi as they take part in a wreath-laying ceremony at Raj Ghat, Mahatma Gandhi's cremation site, during the G20 Summit earlier in September (AP)

India has issued a travel warning to its nationals visiting Canada a day after several media outlets falsely reported that the latter had updated its own travel advisory in the wake of simmering diplomatic tensions.

Tensions between India and Canada hit a new high after prime minister Justin Trudeau went public with his announcement that Ottawa was probing “credible allegations” about the potential role of Indian government agents in the murder of Hardeep Singh Nijjar in British Columbia in June.

New Delhi dubbed the allegations to be “absurd and motivated” and on Wednesday, the Indian foreign ministry warned its nationals living in Canada and those visiting to exercise caution due to “growing anti-India activities and politically-condoned hate crimes”.

“Recently, threats have particularly targeted Indian diplomats and sections of the Indian community who oppose the anti-India agenda,” it said.

“Indian nationals are therefore advised to avoid travelling to regions and potential venues in Canada that have seen such incidents.”

Shortly after Mr Trudeau’s Monday announcement, Canada booted an unnamed Indian diplomat identified as the senior intelligence officer, while India expelled one of Canada’s most senior diplomats in a furious tit-for-tat move.

The diplomatic row which has escalated following Mr Trudeau’s surprise announcement is being closely followed by the public, with Indian media outlets presenting rolling coverage of updates.

On Tuesday, a number of Indian newspapers and broadcasters, including some of the major ones, falsely reported that Canada had updated its travel advisory asking citizens to “exercise a high degree of caution” while travelling to India.

However, according to the Canadian government’s advisory, the update on Monday was only in the “health section”.

But as the update came on the day Mr Trudeau made his explosive allegations in parliament, pointers that had remained unchanged for more than a year were widely flagged to be new along with misleading headlines by Indian news media organisations.

Broadcaster Times Now issued a clarification, saying their report on Canada’s travel advisory was an “inadvertent error on part of the journalist”.

“*CLARIFICATION*- There was an update on the travel advisory to India from Canada’s side. It had added to the section on health. Warning about zika, measles and covid. However the headline said exercise extreme caution while travelling to India,” Times Now said on X.

“Many channels and websites including us were misled by this headline and had gone on to report this. Some even before us. It was an inadvertent error on part of the journalist covering the development,” it said.

India’s own travel advisory, however, comes after members of the Sikh community associated with the Khalistan movement, that demands a separate homeland for Sikhs carved out of India, called on Indian Hindus to leave Canada.

Sikhs for Justice (SFJ), a pro-Khalistan organisation banned in India in 2019 that Nijjar has been linked with, launched a campaign “Indo Hindus Leave Canada” and released videos threatening Hindus of Indian origin for supporting New Delhi.

Secessionist Sikhs For Justice (SFJ) leader releases video after Canadian prime minister announced alleged involvement of Indian agents in killing of Sikh separatist leader (Screengrab/@Tushar_KN)

It warned Indians against “promoting violence” by celebrating Nijjar’s killing.

“Indo-Hindu leave Canada; go to India. You not only support India but you are also supporting the suppression of speech and expression of pro-Khalistan Sikhs,” said SFJ’s legal counsel Gurpatwant Pannun, who is wanted in India and designated as a terrorist, in a video.

Vijay Jain, a spokesperson for Canadian Hindus for Harmony, said the row has threatened the life of Hindus in Canada.

“We are now seeing full-scale Hinduphobia out across the board,” he said.

“We are worried that this may translate into the loss of Canadian Hindu lives as in 1985,” he said in reference to the bombing of Air India flight from Canada to England that killed 329 people aboard.

The Indian foreign ministry urged its nationals to register with the Indian High Commission in Ottawa and remain on alert.

“Given the deteriorating security environment in Canada, Indian students in particular are advised to exercise extreme caution and remain vigilant,” it said.