Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has accused the Indian government of killing Khalistan leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar outside of a gurudwara in Surrey, British Columbia.
Trudeau claimed in the House of Commons that Canada’s national security apparatus has reason to believe that “agents of the Indian government” carried out the killing of this Canadian citizen.
“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. 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. As you would expect, we have been working closely and co-ordinating with our allies on this very serious matter.”
Trudeau’s wild allegations that many Indo-Canadians consider his giving in to appeasement vote bank politics to win the upcoming elections has made the two nations’ shaky bilateral relationship worse.
Further, Canada has expelled an Indian diplomat based on “credible allegations” linking India.
Canadian Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly said the head of Indian intelligence in Canada has been expelled as a consequence.
“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. As a consequence we have expelled a top Indian diplomat.”
In addition, Trudeau is believed to have gone a step further and tried to destabilize India’s relations with its core trade and/or QUAD partners. A senior government source told CBC News that Trudeau has briefed U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, French President Emmanuel Macron, and U.S. President Joe Biden.
On the sidelines of the G20 summit in New Delhi, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi conveyed strong concerns about the extremist Khalistan movement in Canada to Trudeau and called on the two countries to cooperate in dealing with extremist threats.
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