NEW DELHI: Relations between Canada and India have nosedived, with both expelling each others diplomats. The diplomatic fallout between the two countries came months after, Canadian Prime Minister Justine Trudeau on Monday (18 September, 2023) accused the Indian government of being behind this fatal shooting of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, CBC News reported. Nijjar, who was wanted in India, was gunned down outside a gurdwara (Sikh temple), in a parking area in Canada’s Surrey, BC on June 18.
India on Tuesday (19 September, 2023) expelled a senior Canadian diplomat to India in a reciprocal move to Canada expelling a senior Indian diplomat. The move came after India’s rejection as “absurd and motivated” Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s charge that India played a role in the June killing of pro Khalistan activist and Khalistan Tiger Force Chief, Hardeep Singh Nijjar.
Rejecting allegations made by PM Trudeau in the Canadian Parliament, the MEA statement said, “We have seen and reject the statement of the Canadian Prime Minister in their Parliament, as also the statement by their Foreign Minister.” Allegations of the Indian government’s “involvement in any act of violence in Canada are absurd and motivated” the MEA statement said.
“Similar allegations were made by the Canadian Prime Minister to our Prime Minister and were completely rejected,” said the official release from India’s Ministry of External Affairs (MEA).
Former central minister Jairam Ramesh, who heads the Congress’ communications department, has stated that there should not be any compromise on India’s territorial integrity.
ANI adds: Earlier on Monday (18 September, 2023), speaking in a debate in the Canadian Parliament, Canadian PM Trudeau claimed his country’s national security officials had reasons to believe that “agents of the Indian government” carried out the killing of the Canadian citizen, who also served as the president of Surrey’s Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara.
“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,” Trudeau said.
He stated that the involvement of a foreign hand or government in the killing of a Canadian citizen in Canada was unacceptable.
“Any involvement of a foreign government in the killing of a Canadian citizen on Canadian soil is an unacceptable violation of our sovereignty. It is contrary to the fundamental rules by which free, open, and democratic societies conduct themselves,” Trudeau added.
Najjar, who was wanted in India, was gunned down outside a Gurdwara, in a parking area in Canada’s Surrey, British Columbia on June 18. Hailing from Bharsinghpur village in Punjab’s Jalandhar, Nijjar was based in Surrey and had been declared “absconder” by India’s National Investigation Agency (NIA).
Meanwhile, Australia’s SBS News says, ” A spokesperson for Foreign Minister Penny Wong says Australia is “deeply concerned” by allegations the Indian government may have been behind the murder of a Sikh activist in Canada, and revealed it has raised those concerns at “senior levels”.
-Inputs from ANI, CBS News, DW News etc.
