A furious diplomatic row between India and Canada has pushed an otherwise fringe separatist campaign for an independent Sikh homeland in Punjab into the international spotlight.

India’s government is denying that it works together with mobsters to target Sikh separatists in Canada as alleged publicly this week by Canadian officials in an escalating diplomatic dispute

Diplomatic tensions between Canada and India have increased as police in Canada investigate what they allege is the involvement of agents of the Indian government in violence in Canada