(New Delhi) Indian authorities said on Sunday they had summoned Canada’s top diplomat to New Delhi after a gathering of Sikh protesters outside an Indian diplomatic mission in Canada.
Hundreds of people had gathered outside the Indian consulate in Vancouver, western Canada, on Saturday to protest the ongoing manhunt in India for more than a week to arrest the separatist preacher Sikh Amritpal Singh, according to Canadian media.
India’s foreign ministry said it summoned the Canadian high commissioner on Saturday to “express our deep concern over the actions of separatist and extremist elements against our diplomatic mission and consulates in Canada this week.”
“[We expect] the Canadian government to take measures to ensure the safety of our diplomats and diplomatic representations,” Indian diplomacy spokesman Arindam Bagchi said in a statement.
The manhunt to arrest Amritpal Singh has resulted in an internet shutdown and a ban on gatherings of more than four people in several locations in the northern state of Punjab. About 100 people were arrested.
Amritpal Singh has risen to fame in recent months preaching radical Sikhism in rural areas of Punjab, going so far as to demand the creation of a Sikh breakaway state called Khalistan.
New Delhi summoned a senior British diplomatic representative last week after Sikh protesters stormed and vandalized the Indian High Commission in London.
India had also expressed its “strong protest” to the US State Department and the US Embassy in New Delhi, after the ransacking of the Indian Consulate in San Francisco.
