EAM spokesperson slams 'cavalier' Trudeau in Sikh separatist murder row

"Canada has presented us (India) no evidence whatsoever in support of the serious allegations that it has chosen to level against India and Indian diplomats," said the External Affairs Ministry

Foreign Ministry spokesman Randhir Jaiswal slammed Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Thursday (October 17, 2024) as "cavalier" over his handling of the disastrous diplomatic fallout following the 2023 killing of a Sikh separatist in Canada.

New Delhi held firm its defiant stance towards Ottawa — an approach in sharp contrast to its compliant attitude this week towards the United States, where India is also accused of directing a separate assassination plot.

Canada has alleged that India arranged the killing of a Sikh separatist, naturalised Canadian citizen Hardeep Singh Nijjar, murdered in the parking lot of a Sikh temple in Vancouver in June 2023. India has called the allegations "preposterous".

Mr. Jaiswal said on Thursday (October 17, 2024) that they had not seen that evidence.

"Canada has presented us (India) no evidence whatsoever in support of the serious allegations that it has chosen to level against India and Indian diplomats," he said in a statement.

"The responsibility for the damage that this cavalier behaviour has caused to India-Canada relations lies with Prime Minister Trudeau alone."

But Mr. Trudeau, at a parliamentary inquiry on Wednesday (October 16, 2024), said Canada had "clear... indications that India had violated Canada's sovereignty".

Canada's top envoy to New Delhi, Stewart Wheeler, who India has ordered to leave by Saturday (October 19, 2024) night, has said Ottawa had provided "credible, irrefutable evidence of ties between agents of the Government of India and the murder of a Canadian citizen".

Tit-for-tat

Nijjar — who immigrated to Canada in 1997 and became a citizen in 2015 — had advocated for a separate Sikh state, known as Khalistan, carved out of India.

He had been wanted by Indian authorities for alleged terrorism and conspiracy to commit murder. Four Indian nationals have been arrested in connection with Nijjar's murder.

Last year, the Government briefly curbed visas for Canadians and this week both countries expelled each other's ambassadors.

New Delhi's response to Washington has been very different, with the U.S. State Department on Wednesday (October 16, 2024) saying India had told it that an intelligence operative accused of directing an assassination plot on U.S. soil was no longer in government service.

U.S. prosecutors charged an Indian citizen last November over a foiled attempt in New York to kill an advocate for a separate Sikh homeland.

The indictment described an "Indian government employee," who was not publicly named, as recruiting the hitman and directing the assassination plot remotely, including by arranging the delivery of $15,000 in cash.

An Indian daily, quoting an unnamed U.S. official, said on Monday (October 14, 2024) that India not only removed but arrested the employee on "local charges."

The State Department did not confirm the arrest.

Published - October 17, 2024 11:07 am IST