India has lodged a strong protest with the Canadian High Commission in Delhi opposing the organization of the Citizen's Courts by Khalistani activists in Canada.

“We have strongly protested at the Canadian High Commission here. Such courts or gatherings are not helpful at all. We have strongly taken it up with them and asked them to take appropriate action in the matter,” said Randhir Jaiswal, spokesperson for the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), told ANI.

“We have been repeatedly calling upon the government of Canada to take action. Political space provided to extremist anti-India elements and those advocating violence must stop and they must take action,” Jaiswal said.

India lodged the protest after the Canadian Parliament recently observed a two-minute silence on the death anniversary of Khalistani leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar.

“We naturally oppose any moves giving political space to extremism and those advocating violence,”  the Indian official said.

Nijjar, 45, was shot dead in June last year outside a gurdwara in Surrey, a Vancouver suburb with a large Sikh population.

A few months later, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau alleged Indian government involvement, triggering a diplomatic crisis with New Delhi.