Nijjar Killing Row: Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Sunday reiterated his claim that India had been approached in connection with the killing of pro-Khalist terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar. Prime Minister Trudeau also said Canada “will always stand up for the rule of law.”
The statement came after US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on November 10 that the US wants Canada to advance its investigation into Hardeep Singh Nijjar and that India must help achieve this. Blinken made the statement after the “2:2” meeting with India’s Defense Minister Rajnath Singh and Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar.
“As friends of both, we believe it is very important that India cooperates with Canada in its investigations and that they find a way to resolve this difference in a cooperative manner,” Blinken had said.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Canada had reached out to India “to get to the bottom of this matter” and to allies, including the United States, to investigate Canada’s claims about Nijjar’s killing.
“Exciting news! Mint is now on WhatsApp channels 🚀 Subscribe today by clicking the link and stay updated with the latest financial insights!” Click here!
“When we learned of credible allegations that Indian government agents were involved in the killing of a Canadian citizen on Canadian soil, we immediately contacted India and asked them to work with us to get to the bottom of this matter.” We have also reached out to our friends and allies like the United States and others to work on this truly serious violation of international law and the sovereignty of a democracy,” Prime Minister Trudeau reiterated.
“This is something we take very seriously. We will continue to work with all partners as law enforcement and investigative authorities continue to do their work. Canada is a country that will always stand up for the rule of law, because even if it becomes otherwise. “Make it right again: when larger countries can violate international law without consequences, the whole world becomes more dangerous for everyone,” added Prime Minister Trudeau added.
When asked about an incident in which Indian-origin parliamentarian Chandan Arya invited High Commissioner Sanjay Kumar Verma to an event on Parliament Hill, Trudeau claimed India violated the Vienna Convention when over 40 Canadian diplomats were evacuated from the Asian country and were relocated to other places. including Singapore and Kuala Lumpur.
Trudeau called the move “disappointing” and said: “Look at it from our perspective. We have serious reasons to believe that Indian government agents may have been involved in the killing of a Canadian citizen on Canadian soil. And India’s response is to throw out a whole bunch of Canadian diplomats, violating their rights under the Vienna Convention. This is a cause for concern for countries around the world.”
“Because if a particular country can simply decide that its diplomats from another country are no longer protected, that makes international relations more dangerous and serious, but we have tried at every step to work constructively and positively with India and we will “We will continue and that means continuing to work with Indian government diplomats,” he added.
“This is not a fight we want to fight now. But we will always unequivocally stand up for the rule of law because this is Canada,” Trudeau continued.
Relations between Canada and India have deteriorated since Prime Minister Justin Trudeau accused the Indian government and its intelligence agency of orchestrating the assassination of Sikh separatist leader Hardeep Singh on Canadian soil in June. Prime Minister Trudeau has cited “credible” evidence in his allegations.
India has rejected the allegations as “absurd”.
Since then, trade talks between the two nations have failed and India has forced Canada to reduce the number of diplomats in the country. India had also suspended visa services to Canada. However, services were later resumed.
Milestone alert!Livemint tops the charts as the fastest growing news website in the world 🌏 Click here learn more.