Smearing India for political gains: Government on Canada's move against envoy

India hit out at Canada over its probe into the killing of Khalistani terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar that suggested the Indian envoy as a 'person of interest', calling it a deliberate strategy of the Justin Trudeau government to smear India for its political agenda.

In Short

• India rejects Canada's claims against High Commissioner in Hardeep Nijjar probe
• Says Justin Trudeau government using Nijjar issue for political gains
• In September 2023, Trudeau alleged India's involvement in Nijjar's killing

The government on Monday issued a strongly-worded statement over Canada suggesting the Indian High Commissioner and other diplomats are 'persons of interest' linked to an investigation, calling it "preposterous imputations". Rejecting the allegations against the diplomats as part of the Trudeau government's political agenda centred around vote bank politics, India said that it now reserved the right to take further steps in response.

Ties between India and Canada have been strained since September last year when Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau alleged Indian government agents' involvement in the killing of Khalistani terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar on Canadian soil. New Delhi rejected those charges as "motivated and absurd". The diplomatic row took a fresh turn recently when Canada named Indian High Commissioner Sanjay Kumar Verma as a 'person of interest' in its investigation into Nijjar's killing.

In a statement today, the Ministry of External Affairs said the Canadian government did not share a shred of evidence of India's involvement in Nijjar's killing despite repeated requests and accused Trudeau of doing votebank politics and not doing enough to tackle separatist elements on Canadian soil.

"Since Prime Minister Trudeau made certain allegations in September 2023, the Canadian government has not shared a shred of evidence with the Government of India, despite many requests from our side. This latest step follows interactions that have again witnessed assertions without any facts. This leaves little doubt that on the pretext of an investigation, there is a deliberate strategy of smearing India for political gains," the statement said.

The government cited the long evidence of Trudeau's hostility to India, saying his 2018 visit to India "was aimed at currying favour with a vote bank, rebounded to his discomfort".

His Cabinet has included individuals who have openly associated with an extremist and separatist agenda regarding India. His naked interference in Indian internal politics in December 2020 showed how far he was willing to go in this regard. That his government was dependent on a political party, whose leader openly espouses a separatist ideology vis-a-vis India, only aggravated matters," the MEA said, referring to Canada's New Democratic Party leader Jagmeet Singh, whose party pulled out of Trudeau's government.

The government said the Trudeau administration deliberately flagged India as an issue "to mitigate the damage", asserting that Canada faced criticism for turning a blind eye to foreign interference in Canadian politics.

"This latest development targeting Indian diplomats is now the next step in that direction. It is no coincidence that it takes place as Prime Minister Trudeau is to depose before a Commission on foreign interference. It also serves the anti-India separatist agenda that the Trudeau Government has constantly pandered to for narrow political gains," it added.

The MEA cited the Trudeau government's constant support to violent extremists and terrorists to harass, threaten and intimidate Indian diplomats in Canada, saying these were done in the name of freedom of speech.

"To that end, the Trudeau government has consciously provided space to violent extremists and terrorists to harass, threaten and intimidate Indian diplomats and community leaders in Canada. This has included death threats to them and to Indian leaders. All these activities have been justified in the name of freedom of speech," it said.

"Some individuals who have entered Canada illegally have been fast-tracked for citizenship. Multiple extradition requests from the Government of India in respect of terrorists and organised crime leaders living in Canada have been disregarded," it added.

"High Commissioner Sanjay Kumar Verma is India’s senior most serving diplomat with a distinguished career spanning 36 years. He has been Ambassador in Japan and Sudan, while also serving in Italy, Turkiye, Vietnam and China. The aspersions cast on him by the Government of Canada are ludicrous and deserve to be treated with contempt," the MEA said.

The government said it took note of the activities of the Canadian High Commission in India, which it said served as "the political agenda" of the Trudeau government.

"This led to the implementation of the principle of reciprocity in regard to diplomatic representation. India now reserves the right to take further steps in response to these latest efforts of the Canadian Government to concoct allegations against Indian diplomats," it further said.

On October 11, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Trudeau had a brief encounter on the sidelines of the East Asia Summit in Laos. According to Trudeau, he spoke to PM Modi about the "work that we need to do".

"I won't go into details about what we talked about. But what I have said many times is that the safety of Canadians and upholding the rule of law is one of the fundamental responsibilities of any Canadian government, and that's what I'll stay focused on," he said.

Nijjar, chief of Khalistan Tiger Force and wanted by the Indian government, was shot dead outside a gurdwara in Canada's Surrey in June last year.