Canada on Monday expelled a top Indian diplomat soon after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau alleged a potential link between the Indian government and the killing of a Khalistani terrorist, Hardeep Singh Nijjar, in June.
Trudeau said that the country’s security agencies were investigating a link between the Indian government and the killing of the Khalistani terrorist.
As a consequence of this, Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Joly said the head of Indian intelligence in Canada has been expelled.
“If proven true, this would be a great violation of our sovereignty and of the most basic rule of how countries deal with each other,” Joly said. “As a consequence we have expelled a top Indian diplomat,” Joly said, as quoted by AP.
She also said that the Justin Trudeau had raised the matter with US President Joe Biden.
WHAT JUSTIN TRUDEAU SAID
While speaking at the House of Commons in Ottawa, Canada’s Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, said that Canadian security agencies had been actively pursuing credible allegations of a potential link between agents of the Government of India and the killing of a Canadian citizen, Hardeep Singh Nijjar.
Trudeau said he had brought up the issue with Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the G20 Summit as well.
“Canada has declared its deep concerns to the top intelligence security officials of the Indian government. Last week, at the G20, I brought them personally and directly to Prime Minister Modi in no uncertain terms,” the Canadian Prime Minister said.
“In the strongest possible terms, I continue to urge the government of India to cooperate with Canada to get to the bottom of this matter,” he said.
Trudeau said he knows there are some members of the Indo-Canadian community who feel angry or frightened, and he called for calm.
Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc said Canada’s national security advisor and the head of Canada’s spy service have travelled to India to meet their counterparts and to confront the Indian intelligence agencies with the allegations. He called it an active homicide investigation.
DEATH OF KHALISTANI TERRORIST
Hardeep Singh Nijjar, wanted by the Indian government, was killed in a targeted shooting on June 18 this year. Nijjar was shot dead outside a gurdwara in Surrey.
In 2022, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) declared a Rs 10 lakh reward on Nijjar after he was accused of conspiring to kill a Hindu priest in Punjab’s Jalandhar.
The conspiracy to kill the priest was hatched by the Khalistan Tiger Force (KTF). Nijjar, who was based in Canada, was the chief of the KTF.
DISCUSSION ON ‘KHALISTAN EXTREMISM’ AT G20 SUMMIT
At the G20 Summit in Delhi on September 10, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, in a press conference, said that he and Prime Minister Narendra Modi had discussed Khalistani extremism and “foreign interference” during their meeting on the sidelines of the summit.
“Both issues came up. Over the years, with PM Modi, we have had many conversations on both of those issues,” he had said.
Soon after, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s office said that Modi had expressed his deep concerns to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau about the ongoing “anti-India activities” being carried out by “extremist elements” in Canada.
“He (Prime Minister Modi) conveyed our strong concerns about continuing anti-India activities of extremist elements in Canada. They are promoting secessionism and inciting violence against Indian diplomats, damaging diplomatic premises, and threatening the Indian community in Canada and their places of worship,” the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) had said.
(With inputs from AP)
