BANGALORE, INDIA—Prime Minister Stephen Harper has pushed back against Indian government warnings of Sikh extremism in Canada, saying that the federal government won’t interfere in the right to free expression.

Separatist calls from within Canada’s Sikh community for the creation of the state of Khalistan in India’s Punjab region may be objectionable to governments but won’t be silenced, Harper said Thursday.

The prime minister said terrorism and violence shouldn’t be “confused with people’s right in Canada to advocate a political position.

“It may be a political position that both the Government of Canada and the Government of India disagree with. We can’t interfere with the right of political freedom of expression,” he said.

Harper came to India on an extended visit this week to drum up trade and investment. But Indian politicians also used their meetings with the prime minister to raise their own concerns about what they claim is growing Sikh extremism in Canada.

In a meeting with Harper, Preneet Kaur, Minister of State of External Affairs, said the “revival of anti-India rhetoric” in Canada was of “great concern.”

Asked how the federal government is handling these perceived threats, Harper said the Canadian government keeps close tabs on those who “embrace violence or threats of violence or terrorism.

“We watch these things very closely and we work very closely with our partners in the Government of India,” he said.

But Harper made plain Ottawa’s strong support for united India.

“I believe the vast majority of Canadian people, including the vast majority of Indo-Canadians, have no desire to see the revival of old hostilities in this great country here, a country that has moved well beyond these issues and is moving into a new and promising era,” he said.

“The Government of Canada’s policy positions on these matters are extremely well-known and I believe they are shared across the political spectrum and they’re not going to change,” he said.

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