Canada-India dispute: How it affects trade between the two countries?

After the murder of Canadian citizen and Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar, the relationship between India and Canada is strained. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is accusing the Indian government of having a hand in Nijjar’s murder.

Previously, relations between Canada and India were good in terms of trade and immigration. From time to time, these two powerful countries stood in the same camp in the anti-China agenda. Now a situation of bitterness has been created between the two countries.

The Indian government has denied the allegations against it. India has also accused Canada of allowing anti-India groups to form and operate.

A separate ‘Khalistan’ state demanded by the Sikh community and the growing dispute between Canada and India due to this has also soured the relationship between the two countries.

When Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau came to power around 2015, his 30-party cabinet included leaders of Sikh origin. Likewise, Canada is the country with the largest Sikh population (around seven lakh) in the world after India. Because of this, Candeli is believed to have sympathies with the Sikh community. Also, India has been accusing Canada of conniving with Indian Sikh separatists since the past.

The Sikh community has been demanding a separate state for a long time. India has termed various groups of the Sikh community who are demanding an independent state, including Khalistan, as ‘extremists’ and Canada has been accusing them of giving support to such groups.

The tension between the two countries is increasing and there have been efforts to expel diplomats from each other.

The Sikhs of India have been demanding a separate state for themselves since the 1980s. For which they are committed to armed conflict and violence. The involvement of the Khalistani group was confirmed in the 2010 bombing of a hotel in Punjab that killed six people. India considered Hardeep Singh Nijjar as the main planner of this incident.

He was accused of being the founder of the Khalistani Tiger Force, a terrorist organization active in India, and also active in the management and training of financial resources. Due to which he was included in the most wanted list of India. His head was valued at 1 million baht. It has also been revealed that before he was killed last June, his relatives knew about the threat to his security and that Canada’s secret service suspected that he might be killed.

It is not clear whether the dispute will affect the trade or not because there is trade worth billions between the two countries. However, in the report of Press Trust India, experts have stated that due to the current dispute between India and Canada, there will be no difference in investment and trade between the two countries. According to PTI, due to the fact that things are happening on economic and commercial basis, the political dispute will not affect it immediately.

Experts say that since India and Canada do not trade in the same kind of goods, but in different goods, the recent political events will not affect the trade.

Rohinton Medhora of the Center for Pregnancy Innovation says that the deterioration of trade relations with Canada will not affect India. He says, ‘India is in a position to lose trade with Canada. Many other countries are trying to do business with India after getting out of their dependence on China.