India calls upon Canada to stop attacks on places of worships of minorities, stop 'misuse of freedom of expression'

India utilised the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of the human rights records of Canada at the UNHCR in Geneva. The UPR is a unique mechanism that calls for each UN Member State to undergo a peer review of its human rights records every 4.5 years.

Even as India's relations with Canada hit a new low over the killing of a Khalistani Sikh terrorist, India has recently told Canada at the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) that it should prevent misuse of freedom of expression for inciting violence and deny space to the extremist groups.

New Delhi also called upon Ottawa to prevent attacks on religious and racial minority communities.

India utilised the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of the human rights records of Canada at the UNHCR in Geneva to ask Canada to “further strengthen the domestic framework to prevent misuse of freedom of expression for inciting violence and disallow activities of groups which are promoting extremism”.

The UPR is a unique mechanism of the UNHRC that calls for each UN Member State to undergo a peer review of its human rights records every 4.5 years.

K S Mohammed Hussain, the first secretary at New Delhi’s permanent mission to the UN offices in Geneva, presented the statement of India during UPR of Canada at the UNHRC.

New Delhi has been accusing the Liberal Party government in Ottawa of ignoring its repeated calls to curb the Khalistani Sikh extremists, who were running a secessionist campaign against India from Canada. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government also ignored several requests from New Delhi to extradite Khalistani Sikh extremist leaders from Canada to India.

Trudeau’s government has been citing freedom of speech as an excuse for its reluctance to act against the Khalistani Sikh extremists, who were running a campaign against India from Canada.

They also ran hate campaigns against India’s diplomats in Canada, particularly after the killing of Khalistani Tiger Force commander Hardeep Singh Nijjar at the parking lot of a gurdwara in the British Columbia province of the North American country on June 18.

India’s representative at the UNHRC also asked Canada to effectively prevent attacks on places of worship of religious and racial minorities and strengthen legislative and other measures to address hate crimes and hate speech.

The miscreants suspected to be linked to the Khalistani Sikh network over the past few months vandalised several Hindu temples in Canada, apparently as part of the campaign by the extremists against India.  The anti-India campaign by the extremist organisation Sikhs for Justice in Canada and other western nations got a fillip after Trudeau claimed on September 18 that his government’s security agencies were actively pursuing the ‘credible allegations’ about ‘a potential link’ between India’s agents and the killing of Nijjar at Surrey in the British Columbia province of the North American country on June 18. The allegation was dismissed by New Delhi, but it took the bilateral relations between India and Canada to a new low.

The two sides expelled each other’s diplomats and issued tit-for-tat travel advisories. India called Canada a safe haven for terrorists and suspended issuing visas for Canadians. It, however, recently restarted issuing certain categories of visas for the citizens of Canada. New Delhi also made Ottawa downsize its high commission in the national capital of India and its consulates in other cities, leading to the departure of 41 diplomats of Canada.