Trudeau Accuses India Of Backing Criminal Activities, But Questions Linger Over Canada's Claims

Amid escalating diplomatic tensions with India, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has alleged India has supported criminal activities in Canada and that his country faced refusals from India after it sought cooperation from the Indian government. Referring to the killing of Khalistani separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar, Trudeau also claimed he had credible evidence suggesting the involvement of Indian agents in the same.

However, Canadian journalist Daniel Bordman has questioned Trudeau’s claims and also said he does not see him as “credible”.

Speaking at a press conference in Ottawa, Trudeau also cited evidence from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) and said activities by Indian agents were posing threats to public safety.

“As the RCMP commissioner stated earlier, they have clear and compelling evidence that agents of the government of India have engaged in and continue to engage in activities that pose a significant threat to public safety. This includes clandestine information-gathering techniques, coercive behaviour targeting South Asian Canadians and involvement in over a dozen threatening and violating acts, including murder. This is unacceptable,” Trudeau said.

“While attempts have been made by the RCMP and national security officials to work with the government of India and Indian law enforcement counterparts on this matter, they have been repeatedly refused. This is why this weekend Canadian officials took an extraordinary step. They met with Indian officials to share RCMP evidence which concluded six agents of the government of India are persons of interest in criminal activities. Despite repeated requests to the government of India, it decided not to cooperate,” he said.

Speaking further, Trudeau said, “I know the events of the past year and today’s revelations have shaken many Canadians, particularly those in the Indo-Canadian and Sikh community. Many of you are angry, upset, frightened, I get that. This shouldn’t happen.”

“Canada and India have a long and storied history rooted in people-to-people ties, business, and trade, but we cannot abide by what we are seeing right now. Canada fully respects the sovereignty and territorial integrity of India and we expect the Indian government to do the same for Canada,” he said.

“As the Prime Minister, it is my responsibility to provide reassurance to those who are feeling that the safety has been compromised but most importantly, it is my responsibility to take action and to never hesitate in doing what is necessary to protect Canadians, and that is precisely what we are doing today,” Trudeau said.

Speaking further on his meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi last week, Trudeau said, “When I spoke with Prime Minister Modi at the end of last week, I highlighted how incredibly important the meeting between our national security advisors in Singapore this weekend was going to be. Probably he was aware of that meeting and I pressed upon him that it needed to be taken very very seriously.”

INDIA MADE A FUNDAMENTAL ERROR: TRUDEAU

At the press conference, Trudeau said he believed that India had made a “fundamental error” thinking it could engage in supporting criminal activities against Canadians on Canadian soil. He also said the RCMP has now disrupted the pattern of Indian diplomats collecting through questionable and illegal means information on Canadian citizens.

“It is obvious that the government of India made a fundamental error in thinking that they could engage in supporting criminal activities against Canadians here on Canadian soil, whether it be murders or extortion or other violent acts. This is absolutely unacceptable for any country, any democracy, that upholds the rule of law. That is why we have to take such significant measures.”

“Why the RCMP chose to come out today and disrupt the pattern of Indian diplomats collecting through questionable and illegal means information on Canadian citizens that were then fed to criminal organisations, that would then take violent actions, from extortion to murders, against Canadians. No country particularly not a democracy upholds the rule of law can accept this fundamental violation of its sovereignty. Canada fully accepts and respects the sovereignty and territorial integrity of India, we expect India to do the same and in this case, they did not,” Trudeau said.

CAN’T IGNORE NIJJAR’s KILLING: TRUDEAU

Speaking in Ottawa, Trudeau also said he cannot ignore the killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar on Canadian soil.

“None of us wants to be in this situation. This is not a choice that Canada made to create a chill in Canada-India relations. India is an important democracy, is a country with which we have deep historical people-to-people business ties at a time where the instability around geopolitics means democracies have to stick together. That is why when we started to understand through intelligence agencies that India was possibly if not probably, behind (Hardeep Singh) Nijjar’s killing, the killing of a Canadian on Canadian soil last summer, our first choice, our first actions were to reach out to our Five Eyes partners (including Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States), but also to the government of India, to say we know this has happened, work with us to fix this.”

“We don’t want to be having this fight, but obviously the killing of a Canadian on Canadian soil is not something that we can ignore as a country. So every step of the way, we have apprised India of what we know,” Trudeau said.

“I’ve spoken directly with Prime Minister Modi. We have engaged with intelligence counterparts, and unfortunately, every step of the way, both after I made the statement in the House of Commons last September and till now, the response of the Indian government has been to deny, to obfuscate, to attack me personally and the integrity of the government of Canada and its officials and its police agencies. We have simply said we’re going to allow our agencies to do the work, particularly to move from intelligence collection from agencies to police investigations that result in arrests, trials and consequences within a rigorous robust and independent judicial system. That has been our approach every step of the way.”

“Indeed, over this past week, when the RCMP reached out to its law enforcement counterparts in India, there was a path where we could have worked together to ensure accountability and changes and steps that would have resulted in keeping Canadians safe because that is our top priority,” Trudeau said.

“The Indian government rejected those advances and rejected our attempts to find some way through this and that brought us to this point of having to disrupt the chain of operations that go from Indian diplomats here in Canada to criminal organisations to direct violent impacts on Canadians right across this country,” he added.

INDIA-CANADA DIPLOMATIC ROW ESCALATES

Canada announced the expulsion of six Indian diplomats Monday, including the High Commissioner, after the police accused agents of the Indian government of being linked to homicides, harassment and other “acts of violence” against Sikh separatists in the country.

Canada’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Melanie Joly said in a Monday statement that the decision to expel the diplomats “was made with great consideration and only after (Canadian police) gathered ample, clear and concrete evidence which identified six individuals as persons of interest in the Nijjar case.”

The extraordinary step has sharply escalated diplomatic tensions between the countries, with India swiftly expelling six Canadian diplomats in response, including the acting High Commissioner Stewart Ross Wheeler, according to a statement from India’s Ministry of External Affairs.

Relations between both countries hit rock bottom last year when Trudeau said he had credible information linking the Indian government to the assassination of Nijjar.