The transfer will allow asset seizures and prosecutions of Bishnoi gang, which has been accused of concentrating on Sikh activists overseas.
Canada has formally declared India’s Bishnoi gang a “terrorist” organisation, giving authorities the ability to freeze belongings, block funding, and prosecute members beneath “anti-terrorism” legal guidelines.
Public Security Minister Gary Anandasangaree introduced the designation on Monday, saying the gang had instilled worry inside Indian diaspora communities throughout the nation.
“Particular communities have been focused for terror, violence and intimidation by the Bishnoi Gang. Itemizing this group of legal terrorists offers us extra highly effective and efficient instruments to confront and put a cease to their crimes,” mentioned Anandasangaree.
Ottawa pressured that “acts of violence and terror don’t have any place in Canada, particularly those who goal particular communities to create a local weather of worry and intimidation.”
The gang, run by jailed Indian gangster Lawrence Bishnoi, is described by Canadian officers as a transnational legal syndicate working largely from India however with a presence in Canada.
Bishnoi, 32, has been imprisoned for a decade in India however is accused of directing a community of a whole bunch of members engaged in drug trafficking, arms smuggling, extortion, and focused killings.
Canadian police have beforehand alleged that Indian intelligence companies used Bishnoi associates to hold out killings and violent intimidation of supporters of the Khalistan motion, which seeks an impartial state for the Sikh minority within the Indian state of Punjab, overseas.
India dismissed the claims, accusing Ottawa of failing to supply proof and of ignoring repeated extradition requests for Bishnoi-linked suspects.
The Canadian authorities says the “terrorist” itemizing not solely permits property and funds tied to the gang to be seized but in addition strengthens legislation enforcement’s potential to disrupt recruitment, financing, and worldwide journey linked to the gang’s operations.
Political stress has been mounting on Ottawa, with opposition leaders and provincial premiers in Alberta and British Columbia demanding more durable measures in opposition to the gang. Canada is residence to greater than 770,000 Sikhs, accounting for about 2 % of Canada’s inhabitants.
‘A robust sign to India’
The Bishnoi gang’s notoriety has grown amid wider diplomatic tensions between Ottawa and New Delhi. The assassination of Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar exterior a Vancouver-area gurdwara in June 2023 threw the difficulty into sharp aid.
Canada accused Indian officers of directing intelligence to “legal organisations just like the Lawrence Bishnoi gang” to silence critics of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s authorities overseas – an allegation India rejected.
New Delhi insists Ottawa has ignored greater than two dozen extradition requests for Bishnoi members and continues to defend people wished for crimes in India.
Regardless of the deep rift, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney’s nationwide safety adviser, Nathalie Drouin, mentioned final week that Indian officers had pledged to cooperate in ongoing investigations and agreed to chorus from cross-border repression.
