TORONTO — Canada expelled a most sensible Indian diplomat Monday as it investigates what Prime Minister Justin Trudeau known as credible allegations that India’s executive could have had hyperlinks to the assassination in Canada of a Sikh activist.
Trudeau stated in Parliament that Canadian intelligence companies had been taking a look into the allegations after Sikh chief Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a powerful supporter of an unbiased Sikh place of birth identified as Khalistan, was once gunned down on June 18 out of doors a Sikh cultural heart in Surrey, British Columbia.
Trudeau informed Parliament that he introduced up the slaying with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the G-20 final week. He stated he informed Modi that any Indian executive involvement could be unacceptable and that he requested for cooperation within the investigation.
Canadian Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly stated the pinnacle of Indian intelligence in Canada has been expelled as a outcome.
“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,” Joly stated. “As a consequence we have expelled a top Indian diplomat.”
The Indian Embassy in Ottawa did not immediately answer phone calls from The Associated Press seeking comment.
“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,” Trudeau stated.
Trudeau said Canada has declared its deep concerns to the Indian government. “Any involvement of a international executive within the killing of a Canadian citizen on Canadian soil is an unacceptable violation of our sovereignty.”
Trudeau stated his executive has been running carefully and coordinating with Canada’s allies at the case.
“In the strongest possible terms I continue to urge the government of India to cooperate with Canada to get to the bottom of this matter,” he stated.
Trudeau stated he is aware of there are some individuals of the Indo-Canadian group who really feel offended or nervous, and he known as for calm.
Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc stated Canada’s nationwide safety adviser and the pinnacle of Canada’s undercover agent provider have travelled to India to meet their opposite numbers and to confront the Indian intelligence companies with the allegations.
He known as it an energetic murder investigation led by way of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.
Joly stated Trudeau additionally the raised the subject with U.S. President Joe Biden.
Opposition Conservative chief Pierre Poilievre stated if the allegations are true they constitute ”an outrageous affront to our sovereignty.”
Opposition New Democrat chief Jagmeet Singh, who’s himself Sikh, known as it outrageous and surprising. Singh stated he grew up listening to tales that difficult India’s document on human rights may save you you from getting a visa to shuttle there.
“But to hear the prime minister of Canada corroborate a potential link between a murder of a Canadian citizen on Canadian soil by a foreign government is something I could never have imagined,” Singh stated.
The Khalistan motion is banned in India, the place officers see it and affiliated teams as a countrywide safety risk. But the motion nonetheless has some enhance in northern India, as neatly as past, in international locations like Canada and the United Kingdom which might be house to a large Sikh diaspora.
The World Sikh Organization of Canada known as Nijjar an outspoken supporter of Khalistan who “often led peaceful protests against the violation of human rights actively taking place in India and in support of Khalistan.”
“Nijjar had publicly spoken of the threat to his life for months and said that he was targeted by Indian intelligence agencies,” the commentary stated.
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