Team News Riveting
New Delhi, September 19
India-Ottawa relations hit new low after the Foreign Office in New Delhi summoned the Canadian High Commissioner on Tuesday and expelled a senior diplomat.
The move is seen as a tit-for-tat in retaliation after Canada asked an Indian diplomat to leave the country. Besides, its Prime Minister Justin Trudeau alleged that the Indian Government may have had links to the killing of Khalistani separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Surrey in June this year.
Nijjar, who allegedly made an undocumented entry into Canada, was shot dead outside a Sikh temple in Surrey, British Columbia, on June 18. The Indian government had already declared him a terrorist.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made the allegation on September 18 in the House of Commons as Parliament reconvened after the summer break. “Over the past number of weeks, Canadian security agencies have 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,” said Trudeau.
The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) rejected Trudeau’s statement and clarified that the Canadian Prime Minister had made similar allegations during his brief “pull-aside” meeting with PM Narendra Modi on the margins of the G20 on September 10 that “were completely rejected”.
The MEA termed Trudeau’s remarks and the statement by his Foreign Minister Melanie Jolie while expelling an Indian diplomat as “absurd and motivated”.
Sources said Indian diplomats in Canada had received threats to life and two of them were posted out from the country after separatists splashed their photos and names on posters. Videos have also emerged of Nijjer’s ideological mentor and another designated terrorist Gurpatwant Singh Pannu threatening Prime Minister Narendra Modi, National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and Union Home Minister Amit Shah.
Under Trudeau’s leadership, the relations between India and Canada have been deteriorating after Trudeau’s comments on the farmers’ stir encouraged gatherings of Khalistani separatists in front of the Indian High Commission and Consulates in Canada that raised issues of safety and security. Last month, Canada had pushed back at suggestions from India to send a team of National Investigation Agency (NIA) to probe the threats to safety to Indian diplomats and the diplomatic missions.
Sources said Trudeau made up his mind to go offensive against India during the time he was held up in India after his special aircraft developed a mechanical fault. As part of the plan he despatched his NSA Jody Thomas to London to brief her British counterpart while he personally set up calls to acquaint the leaders of the US and Australia about the development.
The MEA said, “We are a democratic polity with a strong commitment to rule of law. Such unsubstantiated allegations seek to shift the focus from Khalistani terrorists and extremists, who have been provided shelter in Canada and continue to threaten India’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. The inaction of the Canadian Government on this matter has been a long-standing and continuing concern. That Canadian political figures have openly expressed sympathy for such elements remains a matter of deep concern.
The space given in Canada to a range of illegal activities including murders, human trafficking and organised crime is not new. We reject any attempts to connect the Government of India to such developments. We urge the Government of Canada to take prompt and effective legal action against all anti-India elements operating from their soil.”
The MEA has asked the Canadian diplomat, whose name has not been revealed, to leave India in five days.
