IAMC Demands Stronger Protections Against Transnational Repression in U.S. as Indian Government Faces New Allegations in Canada
Washington, D.C. (October 14, 2024) — The Indian American Muslim Council (IAMC) expressed grave concern at the latest revelations concerning the Narendra Modi-led Indian government’s transnational repression campaign in Canada.
Following Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s September 2023 accusation of Indian-government involvement in the assassination of Canadian Sikh leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar, the Canadian government recently disclosed that there had been “over a dozen credible and imminent threats to life” on other Canadian Sikhs. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police accused Indian agents of involvement in “homicides, extortion and violent acts” in Canada.
A report in the Washington Post quoting senior Canadian officials named Indian Home Minister Amit Shah for authorizing the attacks in Canada. The Canadian police also implicated India’s top diplomat, Sanjay Verma, in the killing of Nijjar, alleging that the Indian government had collaborated with notorious Indian mob boss Lawrence Bishnoi in the assassination. Bishnoi had been implicated in several killings in India, and it is now believed that his gang also killed Canadian Sikh Sukhdool Singh Gill at the orders of Indian government agents.
“As disturbing as they are, the Canadian government’s announcement of the latest round of transnational repression comes as no surprise,” said IAMC executive director Rasheed Ahmed. “They represent the Modi regime’s criminal effort to transform the rest of the world into a mirror of its own oppressive state.”
The Modi-led Indian government and its supporters have unleashed a slew of other threats to Indians residing abroad: allegedly seeking to assassinate American Sikh leader Gurpatwant Singh Pannun in New York City; conducting an Indian intelligence-associated smear campaign against U.S. human rights groups; revoking the overseas citizenship status of Indian American critics; suspending passports of Kashmiri dissidents and detaining the relatives of Indian Americans in retaliation for remarks they made abroad.
Canadian officials said that “Indian diplomats have used violence as well as threatened to deny needed immigration documents to coerce Indians living in Canada to serve as informants against Sikh activists.”
In sight of the dangers posed by the Indian government’s violent transnational repression, IAMC called on American lawmakers to pass the bipartisan Transnational Repression Reporting Act of 2024, which would establish a yearly process for compiling and publicizing all known instances of transnational repression conducted by foreign governments on American soil.
“The Indian government’s attacks on the lives, freedom, and wellbeing of Indian Americans show no signs of slowing down. We must act quickly to take concrete measures to protect all of us from foreign threats,” said IAMC President Mohammed Jawad. “Creating an annual reporting process for instances of transnational repression would provide accountability for the Indian government’s unacceptable challenges to American territorial sovereignty.”
