• PM Modi’s govt directed Bishnoi group to target Sikh activist: police.
• Terror designation empowers Canada to confront Indian gang.
• Ottawa terms group transnational criminal operating out of India.

MONTREAL: Canada has declared India’s Bishnoi gang a “terrorist entity,” targeting a group linked to a murder that triggered a breakdown in relations between Ottawa and New Delhi last year.

Canada has accused the notorious syndicate — known for assassinations and extortion in India — of possible involvement in the murder of prominent Sikh activist and Canadian citizen Hardeep Singh Nijjar near Vancouver.

Nijjar, who had advocated for a separate Sikh state carved out of India, was shot dead in a parking lot in 2023.

Following the incident, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police have alleged that members of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government worked with the “Bishnoi Group” to target Sikh activists in Canada.

India furiously rejected those charges, sparking a diplomatic fallout that saw both countries expel top diplomats.

Canada’s Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree said terrorism designation gave Ottawa “more powerful and effective tools to confront” the Bishnoi group.

A statement from his office called the Bishnoi gang “a transnational criminal organisation operating primarily out of India, with a presence in Canada, that generates terror through extortion and intimidation”.

The move comes as Prime Minister Mark Carney, who took office in March, seeks to repair ties with India that collapsed under his predecessor, Justin Trudeau.

Carney has courted India as part of an effort to deepen Canada’s trade ties in Asia, which the prime minister says is essential to offset the impact of the trade war with the United States.

Carney met one-on-one with Modi at the Canada-hosted G7 meeting in June, stressing “the significant commercial links between Canada and India.”

WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump published on Monday a 20-point peace proposal for Gaza that would end the war between Israel and Hamas and require the return of all hostages living and dead within 72 hours of a ceasefire.

The plan leaves many details for negotiators to hash out and hinges on acceptance by Hamas fighters who launched the war against Israel on October 7, 2023. It refers to a redeveloped Gaza as “New Gaza.”

Here are the main elements of the plan that resulted from intense negotiations in recent weeks between Trump and his team, and Israeli and Arab leaders:

• If both sides agree to the proposal, the war will end immediately. Israeli forces will withdraw partially to prepare for a hostage release. All military operations will be suspended and battle lines will be frozen in place until conditions are met for the “complete staged withdrawal” of Israeli forces.
• Within 72 hours of Israel publicly accepting the proposal, all hostages, alive and dead, will be returned. Once all hostages are released, Israel will free 250 Palestinian prisoners serving life sentences plus 1,700 Gazans arrested after the start of the conflict on October 7, 2023. For every Israeli hostage whose remains are released, Israel will release the remains of 15 dead Gazans.
• Once all hostages are freed, members of Hamas “who commit to peaceful coexistence” and give up arms will be given amnesty. Members of Hamas who wish to leave Gaza will be provided with safe passage to receiving countries.
• Upon acceptance of this agreement, full aid will be immediately sent into the Gaza Strip, with quantities consistent with the levels mandated under a January 19, 2025, accord. Aid deliveries will proceed without interference from Israel or Hamas through the United Nations and related agencies.
• A “deradicalised” Gaza will not pose a threat to its neighbours and will be “redeveloped” for the benefit of Gazans.
• The Trump plan envisions a “Board of Peace” of international overseers led by Trump himself and including former British Prime Minister Tony Blair in an undefined role. Gaza will be governed under the temporary transitional governance of a “technocratic, apolitical” committee made up of Palestinians and international experts, to be overseen by the Board of Peace. This group will set the framework and handle the funding for the redevelopment of Gaza until the Palestinian Authority has undergone major reforms.
• A Trump economic development plan to rebuild Gaza will be created by convening a panel of experts “who have helped birth some of the thriving modern miracle cities in the Middle East.” A special economic zone will be established with preferred tariff and access rates to be negotiated with participating countries.
• Under the plan, no one will be forced to leave Gaza, which has sustained heavy damage during the war, and those who wish to leave will be free to do so and free to return. “We will encourage people to stay and offer them the opportunity to build a better Gaza,” the plan says.
• Hamas and other factions would agree to have no role whatsoever in governing Gaza, directly or indirectly. All military infrastructure, including tunnels and weapons production facilities, will be destroyed. Independent monitors will supervise the demilitarisation of Gaza.
• “New Gaza will be fully committed to building a prosperous economy and to peaceful coexistence with their neighbours,” according to the plan.
• Regional partners will work to ensure that Hamas and related factions comply with their obligations and that New Gaza poses no threat.
• The US will work with Arab and international partners to develop a temporary International Stabilisation Force to immediately deploy in Gaza.
• Israel will not occupy or annex Gaza. The Israeli Defence Forces will progressively hand over the Gaza territory it occupies to the International Stabilisation Force.
• The plan is vague on a pathway to Palestinian statehood. It says that while Gaza redevelopment advances and when the Palestinian Authority is reformed, “the conditions may finally be in place for a credible pathway to Palestinian self-determination and statehood, which we recognise as the aspiration of the Palestinian people.”
• The US will establish a dialogue between Israel and the Palestinians to agree on a “political horizon for peaceful and prosperous co-existence.”

• White House releases US president-pushed 20-point peace plan.
• Plan calls for truce, swap of hostages with Palestinian prisoners.
• Israel has launched one of its biggest ground offensives this month.

WASHINGTON/CAIRO/JERUSALEM: President Donald Trump has said that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has agreed to a US-backed peace plan for Gaza, even as Israeli forces press one of their fiercest offensives in the battered Palestinian enclave. 

The proposal calls for a ceasefire and the release of hostages, but its success still hinges on whether Hamas will come on board.

Speaking at a joint press conference with Netanyahu, Trump said they were “beyond very close” to forging an elusive peace deal and that he hoped Hamas would also accept it.

The White House released Trump’s 20-point plan that calls for a ceasefire, a swap of hostages held by Hamas for Palestinian prisoners held by Israel, a staged Israeli withdrawal from the Palestinian enclave, Hamas disarmament and a transitional government led by an international body.

“I also want to thank Prime Minister Netanyahu for agreeing to the plan and for trusting that if we work together, we can bring an end to the death and destruction that we’ve seen for so many years, decades, even centuries and begin a new chapter of security, peace and prosperity for the entire region,” Trump said.

In Netanyahu’s fourth visit to the White House since Trump returned to office in January, the right-wing Israeli leader was looking to shore up his country’s most important relationship after a slew of Western leaders formally embraced Palestinian statehood last week in defiance of the US and Israel.

Trump, who sharply criticised the recognition moves as a prize for Hamas, was seeking Netanyahu’s agreement despite Israel’s misgivings on parts of the plan.

It marked a stepped-up diplomatic effort from the US president, who vowed during the 2024 presidential campaign to bring the conflict to a close quickly and has since repeatedly claimed that a peace deal was near, only for it to fail to materialise.

Hamas’ apparent absence from the negotiations has raised questions about the prospects for the latest initiative.

Meanwhile, a senior Hamas official told AFP on Monday that the group had not yet received Trump’s Gaza peace plan.

“We have not received Trump’s proposal. We will study it and respond once we receive it,” the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to discuss the matter publicly.

Tanks head deeper into Gaza city

Washington presented its peace plan to Arab and Muslim states on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly last week, and Trump’s main objective on Monday was to try to close the remaining gaps with Netanyahu.

The White House talks came as Israeli tanks on Monday thrust deeper into the heart of Gaza City. Israel has launched one of its biggest offensives of the war this month, with Netanyahu saying he aims to wipe out Hamas in its final redoubts. The war has left much of Gaza in ruins and caused a major humanitarian crisis.

Arriving by limousine, Netanyahu was greeted by Trump outside the White House doors with a handshake, a stark contrast to the Israeli Prime Minister’s chilly reception when he spoke on Friday before the UN General Assembly, where scores of delegates walked out in protest.

Previous US-backed ceasefire efforts have fallen apart due to a failure to bridge the gap between Israel and Hamas, and Netanyahu has vowed to continue fighting until Hamas is completely dismantled.