India on Tuesday rebutted Canadian assertions that credible proof on Indian involvement within the assassination of Hardeep Singh Nijjar has been offered to New Delhi, with sources within the Indian authorities saying no specifics got and the burden of denial has been placed on India.
On Monday, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau mentioned he knowledgeable Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the finish of final week in regards to the essential significance of the upcoming assembly between the nationwide safety advisors of each international locations in Singapore however nothing got here out of it. Sources mentioned Canadian PM Trudeau’s press convention on Monday was “the identical outdated Trudeau saying the identical outdated issues for a similar outdated causes”.
The central assertion from all Canadian officers is that credible proof has been introduced to India, they are saying, which was additionally repeated by their Cost D Affairs Stewart Wheeler to the press. “That is merely not true. From the very starting, the Canadian strategy has been to make obscure accusations and put the burden of denial on India,” mentioned an official.
Chatting with reporters exterior South Block on Monday night, Wheeler mentioned: “Canada has offered credible, irrefutable proof of ties between brokers of the Authorities of India and the homicide of a Canadian citizen on Canadian soil. Now, it’s time for India to stay as much as what it mentioned it might do and look into all these allegations. It’s within the curiosity of each our international locations and the individuals of our international locations to resolve this. Canada stands able to cooperate with India.”
Reiterating what the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) acknowledged in its press briefing earlier within the day, Trudeau alleged, “They’ve clear and compelling proof that brokers of the Authorities of India have engaged in and proceed to have interaction in actions that pose a major risk to public security. This consists of clandestine information-gathering strategies, coercive behaviour concentrating on South Asian Canadians and involvement in a dozen threatening and violating acts together with homicide. That is unacceptable.”
“After I spoke to PM Modi on the finish of final week, I highlighted how extremely essential the assembly between our nationwide safety advisors in Singapore this weekend was going to be. He was conscious of that assembly and I pressed upon him that the assembly must be taken very very severely,” Trudeau added.
He alleged that this weekend Canadian officers shared RCMP proof with their Indian counterparts, which “concluded that six brokers of the Authorities of India are individuals of curiosity in legal actions, however the Authorities of India determined to not cooperate.”
Sources say whereas assertions have been made about connections of sure people to India on the RCMP press briefing, in no case have been any specifics offered. “There was additionally discuss holding individuals accountable. Nevertheless it was by no means made clear who and for what,” added a supply.
“This isn’t a alternative that Canada made to create a chill in Canada-India relations,” mentioned Trudeau as he addressed the press in Ottawa alongside Minister of Overseas Affairs Mélanie Joly and Minister of Public Security and Intergovernmental Affairs Dominic LeBlanc.
Whereas his ministers underlined how their investigators are collaborating with 5 Eyes (an intelligence-sharing alliance comprising the US, the UK, Australia, Canada, and New Zealand), Trudeau reached out to the British premier Keith Starmer to debate developments with India.
The Indian authorities strongly refuted the claims. “The Authorities of India strongly rejects these preposterous imputations and ascribes them to the political agenda of the Trudeau Authorities, centred round vote financial institution politics,” mentioned an announcement from the MEA.
The Indian aspect additionally famous that it was “absurd that after intensively partaking the Excessive Commissioner (Sanjay Verma) during the last 12 months, the Canadian authorities now chooses to focus on him”. “The aspersions forged on him by the Authorities of Canada are ludicrous and need to be handled with contempt,” MEA mentioned on Monday after Canada zeroed in on him as a “individual of curiosity” within the ongoing investigation.
Because the tensions between India and Canada escalated, New Delhi ordered the expulsion of six Canadian diplomats on Monday and introduced the withdrawal of its Excessive Commissioner to Canada, together with different “focused diplomats.”
Citing a Canadian authorities supply, Reuters reported Canada had “expelled six Indian diplomats”, nonetheless, India mentioned the diplomats have been being known as again on account of safety issues.
Diplomatic ties between India and Canada suffered a setback in September 2023 after Trudeau alleged Indian authorities “brokers” could be chargeable for the homicide of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a Canadian citizen, on its soil.
