The Canadian PM claims he obtained “credible allegations” that New Delhi was behind the assassination of a Sikh independence activist
Canadian intelligence brokers have uncovered “credible allegations” that the Indian authorities assassinated a Sikh independence activist in Ontario earlier this summer season, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau mentioned on Monday. The slain Sikh was related to a radical motion that focused Indian diplomats in Canada and the UK.
“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 informed members of parliament.
“Any involvement of a foreign government in the killing of a Canadian citizen on Canadian soil is an unacceptable violation of our sovereignty,” he continued, earlier than calling on New Delhi to “cooperate with Canada to get to the bottom of this matter.”
Hardeep Singh Nijjar, 46, the top of the Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara Sahib in Surrey, British Columbia, was murdered on June 19. He was shot at point-blank vary by two unidentified gunmen on the premises of the gurdwara whereas he was heading out for his dwelling in Surrey, about 30km from Vancouver.
Nijar was a member of the Khalistan motion, which calls for {that a} sovereign homeland for the minority neighborhood be carved out of the north Indian state of Punjab. The motion waged a guerilla marketing campaign in opposition to the Indian state in the course of the Seventies and Eighties, most notably claiming duty for the bombing of Air India Flight 182, which was blown up off the coast of Ireland in 1985, killing all 329 individuals on board.
Members of the motion protested in Canada and the UK after Nijar’s killing, accusing the Indian authorities of involvement and calling for retributive assaults on Indian officers.
In response, New Delhi referred to as on British and Canadian authorities to clamp down on the separatists. Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar accused Canadian politicians of neglecting the obvious risk posed by the Khalistan activists in trade for Sikh votes.
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“For us, how Canada has dealt with the Khalistan issue has been a long-standing concern… Very frankly, they seem to be driven by vote bank politics,” Jaishankar mentioned in July.
The Indian authorities has not but responded to Trudeau’s claims. Trudeau informed lawmakers on Monday that he “personally and directly” raised the allegations with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the course of the G20 summit in New Delhi earlier this month.
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