After repeatedly denying the presence of terrorists and criminals on its soil, Canada is in a tight spot with Arshdeep Singh alias Arsh Dalla, an associate of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, reportedly being charged in a violent shooting in Ontario. As emboldened criminals like Dalla threaten the safety and security of citizens on Canadian soil, the pressure to act on criminal gangs who are also fuelling the pro-Khalistan network in Canada is growing.
But the security and intelligence brass in Ontario continues to be in a denial mode. Ward Elcock, former director of the Canadian security intelligence service, has defended the action against Indian diplomats on its soil as the investigation into the killing of Nijjar progresses. However, Ottawa’s inaction against gangsters on Canadian soil remains a prick in diplomatic ties.
“Given that the investigations by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police appears to have produced evidence of the involvement of Indian diplomats as an integral, if not the directing, element of those threats, public identification of that element appears to have been seen in a way as to reduce or eliminate those threats,” he said.
But the fresh turn of events has brought to light Dalla’s criminal activities and networks on Canadian soil that would require an investigation by the Canadian police. The association of Canada-based Dalla with the now deceased self-proclaimed chief of the terrorist outfit Khalistan Tiger Force (KTF), has been flagged by Indian security agencies on multiple platforms but to no avail, security officials said.
Similarly, Harwinder Singh alias Rinda, a notorious gangster who is now based in Pakistan and is actively associated with the Babbar Khalsa International (BKI), has been operating with gangsters such as Lakhvir Singh alias Landa Harike in Canada and Harpreet Singh alias Happy Passian in the US. According to Punjab DGP Gaurav Yadav, they have been the masterminds of a number of terrorist attacks in Punjab.
While Elcock speaks of the close ties his country shares with America after sections of the US media spilled details of ongoing investigation in the Nijjar Killing case, it would require both Canadian and US investigators to probe Dalla’s networks on their soil and dig deeper to investigate their activities. All eyes are now on the probe into the October 28 shooting in Ontario conducted by the RCMP, said Punjab police officials.
Canada’s argument that New Delhi has not given sufficient evidence against transnational criminal networks for Canada to act has been countered by Punjab Director General of Police Gaurav Yadav who told THE WEEK that dossiers have been shared on at least 25 gangsters or organised criminals hailing from Punjab who are wanted in the US and Canada.
“What is also of serious concern for India is the linkages between some of these organised criminal networks with important pro-Khalistan terrorist nodes based abroad,” he said.
The Punjab police has found that while many of the gangsters have used illegal routes to reach foreign shores, others such as Arsh Dala and Lakhvir Landa went abroad on their own passports on student or visitor visas, but have managed to stay back despite the expiry of their visas.
Whether Canada take will action against Dalla and pursue the cases of crime and terror on its soil will be a litmus test for the Justin Trudeau government.