The Union Ministry of Home Affairs has upgraded the security of External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar to Z category after Khalistani groups in Canada issued new posters carrying the images of the minister and PM Narendra Modi calling for their assassination, a report said on Friday.

Khalistani group Sikhs for Justice (SFJ) put up these posters on Tuesday outside the Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara in Surrey, British Columbia, where Hardeep Singh Nijjar was killed in June this year. The posters showed a “referendum” on whether a separate state should be carved out of India will be held in Vancouver on October 29, Hindustan Times reported. Along with this, a protest will be launched on October 21 from Surrey to the Indian consulate.

The posters, one of the sources quoted in the report, said they previously called for the assassination of the Indian high commission to Canada Sanjay Kumar Verma, and consul generals Manish and Apoorva Srivastava.

Later, posters were put up with images of EAM Jaishankar and PM Modi.

“The Canadian high commissioner to India, Cameron MacKay, was summoned to South Block on Wednesday and a protest was conveyed. The protest note asked the Trudeau government to immediately pull down the posters at Surrey Gurudwara, investigate the threat to PM, EAM and India’s diplomats in Canada and then take strong action against the guilty. A protest was also conveyed to Global Affairs Canada in Ottawa at the same time,” another source quoted in the copy said.

The posters appeared at a time when Khalistani extremist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun said the secessionist movement is similar to the situation in Israel and Palestine, saying that the SFJ will carry out Hamas-like attacks.

 

Also read: Cyber attack targets Medical Aid for Palestinians’ website amid Israel-Hamas conflict

 

The report further said that Delhi Police have said EAM Jaishankar will now be guarded by the VIP security wing of the Central Reserve Security Force (CRPF), which guards around 176 people in the country.

A Delhi Police officer, on condition of anonymity, said that police too had received inputs of threats to Jaishankar from separatist groups.

India and Canada tensions started after Canadian PM Justin Trudeau claimed on September 18 that there may be a “potential link” between Indian government agents and the killing of Nijjar. India has dismissed the accusation as “absurd and motivated”.

India also suspended new visas for Canadians on September 22.

Earlier this week it was reported that Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Joly reportedly held a secret meeting with India’s External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar in Washington a few days back as Ottawa was trying to sort out the strained diplomatic situation with New Delhi.

British newspaper Financial Times, citing people familiar with the situation, reported that the Canadian government was trying to sort out the strained diplomatic situation with New Delhi, following reports that Canadian diplomats had been given a deadline to leave India or risk losing their diplomatic immunity.

Delhi had asked Ottawa to withdraw about 40 of its diplomats to bring parity with the Indian diplomatic presence in Canada.

EAM Jaishankar was in Washington DC in the last week of September and met US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and NSA Jake Sullivan.

While there, Jaishankar had said that the Canada issue did come up in his discussions with Blinken and Sullivan. Blinken had “urged” India to “cooperate fully” with the ongoing Canadian investigation into Nijjar’s killing.

Also read: Operation Ajay: First flight carrying 212 Indian nationals from war-torn Israel arrives in Delhi

Also read: Massive destruction in Gaza as Israel drops 6,000 bombs against Hamas; see pics

Also read: India supports establishment of independent state of Palestine: MEA