Canada accused India's Home Minister Amit Shah of involvement in the plots to harass Sikh separatists in the country, a move that will further sour the diplomatic ties between the two nations.
Canadian Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister David Morrison on Tuesday told a parliamentary panel that he named Mr Shah in an interview with US-based Washington Post newspaper. The newspaper had claimed that a “senior official in India” had “authorised the intelligence-gathering missions and attacks on Sikh separatists” in Canada.
“The journalist called me and asked me if it was that person [Mr Shah]. I confirmed it was,” Mr Morrison said, without providing further details or evidence.
The Indian government has not responded to the allegations or The National’s requests for a comment.
Mr Shah is a decades-long confidant of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and is considered a powerful political figure. He has been India's Home Minister since 2019.
While home minister of Gujurat state under then chief minister Mr Modi, Mr Shah was accused of ordering the extrajudicial killing of gangsters and jailed in 2010. He was exonerated in the courts on all cases in December 2014.
Canada has accused New Delhi in the assassination of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a Canadian Sikh separatist leader in British Columbia, who was shot dead by two men outside a Sikh temple in a suburb of Vancouver in 2023.
Mr Nijjar allegedly led the Khalistan Tiger Force, a group that seeks the creation of a Sikh homeland called Khalistan in the Punjab region. He was designated a terrorist by Indian authorities in 2020.
Nathalie Drouin, the national security adviser to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, also acknowledged that she had leaked details in this case to the paper. Testifying before the Commons public safety committee, Ms Drouin said she did not need Mr Trudeau’s authorisation to share the information, adding that it is not classified intelligence.
Mr Trudeau last year told the Canadian Parliament that Indian agents were involved in the killing but during a public inquiry this month he admitted that there was “no hard evidentiary proof”.
The Globe and Mail newspaper in Canada reported that Mr Shah was also connected to the killing of Sikh activist Sukhdool Singh Gill, who was shot in Winnipeg in September last year.
New Delhi has rejected the claims and accused Mr Trudeau of making wild accusations without any evidence and of damaging the two countries' ties.
Canada has the largest overseas community of Indian origin, with a population of 1.4 million. It has the highest number of Sikhs outside Punjab with about 770,000.
Mr Nijjar’s killing sparked a growing diplomatic rift, with the countries expelling each other’s diplomats after a Canadian announcement that Indian High Commissioner Sanjay Kumar Verma was a “person of interest” in the case this month.
Formula Middle East Calendar (Formula Regional and Formula 4)
Round 1: January 17-19, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 2: January 22-23, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 3: February 7-9, Dubai Autodrome – Dubai
Round 4: February 14-16, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 5: February 25-27, Jeddah Corniche Circuit – Saudi Arabia
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Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
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The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
10 tips for entry-level job seekers
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- Go online and look for details on job specifications for your target position. Make a list of skills required and set yourself some learning goals to tick off all the necessary skills one by one.
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- Make sure you’ve set your LinkedIn profile to signal that you are “open to opportunities”. Also be sure to use LinkedIn to search for people who are still actively hiring by searching for those that have the headline “I’m hiring” or “We’re hiring” in their profile.
- Prepare for online interviews using mock interview tools. Even before landing interviews, it can be useful to start practising.
- Be professional and patient. Always be professional with whoever you are interacting with throughout your search process, this will be remembered. You need to be patient, dedicated and not give up on your search. Candidates need to make sure they are following up appropriately for roles they have applied.
Arda Atalay, head of Mena private sector at LinkedIn Talent Solutions, Rudy Bier, managing partner of Kinetic Business Solutions and Ben Kinerman Daltrey, co-founder of KinFitz
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Director: S Sashikanth
Cast: Nayanthara, Siddharth, Meera Jasmine, R Madhavan
Star rating: 2/5
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