India and Canada’s tension continues to surge regarding the killing of Khalistan extremist Hardeep Singh Nijjar in June this year. In the latest pubic statement, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has refused to say what evidence Ottawa as on the murder of the Sikh separatist leader against India.
An unfazed PM Justin Trudeau also said, “Will allow justice process to proceed’.
While talking to reporters, Canadian PM Justin Trudeau further on characterizing the allegations against India said, “I think it’s extremely important that as a country with a strong and independent justice system. We allow those justice processes to unfold themselves with the utmost integrity.”
“But I can assure you, the decision to share these allegations on the floor of the House of Commons was not done lightly. It was done with utmost seriousness…” PM Trudeau urged India to co-operate in the probe and not to take the allegations lightly.
“As I said on Monday, there are credible reasons to believe that agents of the Govt of India were involved in the killing of a Canadian on Canadian soil, which is something of utmost and foundational importance in the country of rule of law, in a world where international rules-based order matters.” the PM reiterated on his previous allegations against India.
“We have independent justice system and robust processes that will follow their course and we call upon the Govt of India to engage with us to move forward on getting to the truth of this matter”, said Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
Tensions flared between India and Canada early this week following PM Trudeau’s explosive allegations of a “potential” involvement of Indian agents in the killing of Khalistani extremist Hardeep Singh Nijjar on his country’s soil on June 18 in British Columbia.
India had designated Nijjar as a terrorist in 2020.
India rejected the allegations as “absurd” and “motivated” and expelled a senior Canadian diplomat in a tit-for-tat move to Ottawa‘s expulsion of an Indian official over the case.
“Of course, there are credible allegations that we need to take extremely seriously as Canadians and indeed as a world,” Trudeau asserted when asked if the evidence suggested by him was extensive in the matter.
Trudeau also said that his government was not looking to provoke or cause problems.
“There is no question that India is a country of growing importance and a country that we need to continue to work with, not just in the region but around the world. We’re not looking to provoke or cause problems. But we are unequivocal around the importance of the rule of law and unequivocal about the importance of protecting Canadians.
“That’s why we call upon the government of India, to work with us to establish processes to discover and to uncover the truth of the matter and to allow justice and accountability to be served,” he added.
On Thursday, India suspended visa services for Canadian citizen, as escalating tensions between the two nations over the killing of Nijjar pushed their ties to an all-time low.
India also asked Canada to downsize its diplomatic staff in the country, arguing that there should be parity in strength and rank equivalence in the mutual diplomatic presence. The size of Canadian diplomatic staff in India is larger than what New Delhi has in Canada.
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Updated: 21 Sep 2023, 10:02 PM IST