Canada's public broadcaster CBC reported earlier today that the detainees are Indian nationals who were in the country as international students and were part of the group that assassinated Hardeep Singh Nijjar in western Canada. Canada's Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc confirmed the arrests, but provided no details as the Royal Canadian Mounted Police is set to hold a press conference on the matter later today. Singh Nijjar was a prominent leader in the Sikh community who had been accused of terrorism by Indian authorities for advocating for the creation of an independent Sikh homeland called Khalistan in the state of Punjab. The Sikh leader was shot dead by a group of unidentified men in June 2023 in the western Canadian city of Surrey. According to CBC, those arrested include the shooters who killed Singh Nijjar, as well as others who provided logistical support to the killers. The killing and Trudeau's subsequent accusation that the Indian government was directly involved in the Sikh leader's death caused a major diplomatic rift between the two countries. In late 2023, New Delhi withdrew the immunity of 41 Canadian diplomats, forcing them to leave India, in retaliation for the Canadian accusations. In February this year, India's ambassador to Canada, Sanjay Kumar Verma, said that New Delhi will not cooperate with the investigation into Singh Nijjar's death until it receives "tangible information." Verma added that Canadian authorities have not shown any evidence linking India to Singh Nijjar's killing. Canada is home to the largest Sikh community outside India, with 770,000 Canadians identifying as Sikhs in 2021, representing 2% of the country's population. A bloody insurgency in the northern Indian state in the 1970s and 1980s was eventually crushed by a government crackdown, leaving thousands dead, including prominent Sikh leaders. The Khalistan movement has since lost much of its political steam, but it still retains some support in the Indian state of Punjab and among the Sikh diaspora. Although the armed insurgency ended years ago, the Indian government has repeatedly warned that Sikh separatists are trying to make a comeback. Read Also: Students start pro-Palestinian camp at University of Toronto (in Portuguese)