Following Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau accepted that his government had not provided ‘hard evidentiary proof’ while accusing India of involvement in the killing of Khalistani terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) stated that Trudeau only confirms what India has been saying consistently all along. The MEA also blamed Trudeau’s behaviour for damaging relations between India and Canada.
On Wednesday, Trudeau acknowledged that he had only intelligence and no hard evidentiary proof when he alleged the involvement of Indian government agents in the killing of Khalistani separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar last year. On Thursday, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) issued a statement in the early hours in response to media queries related to Trudeau’s deposition, some of whose details came out in media reports.
MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said in a statement, ‘What we have heard today only confirms what we have been saying consistently all along — Canada has presented us no evidence whatsoever in support of the serious allegations that it has chosen to level against India and Indian diplomats’.
The ministry further said, ‘The responsibility for the damage that this cavalier behaviour has caused to India-Canada relations lies with Prime Minister Trudeau alone’. Earlier in the day, Justin Trudeau, testifying before the Canada’s foreign interference inquiry, said India has been insisting on proof over allegations levelled by Canada regarding the killing of Khalistani terrorist Nijjar but his government had provided just intelligence, “not hard evidentiary proof.”
“Behind the scenes (were trying) India to co-operate with us. Their ask was give us the evidence you have on us. Our response was it is within your security agency. You should be looking into how much they know, you should be engaging. ‘No, no but show us the evidence’. At that point, it was primarily intelligence, not hard evidentiary proof. So we said let’s work together’, said Canadian PM.
India rejected the attempts by Canadian authorities to link Indian agents with criminal gangs in Canada with official sources in New Delhi even stating that Ottawa’s assertion that it shared proof with New Delhi in the Nijjar case was simply not true. India has denied all the allegations, calling them ‘absurd’ and ‘motivated’ and has accused Canada of giving space to extremist and anti-India elements in their country.
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