Justin Trudeau’s accusation that the Indian government could be involved in the killing of banned Khalistan Tiger Force’s chief Hardeep Singh Nijjar, has reactions pouring in from both the countries, largely criticising the Canadian Prime Minister, and his move to expel the Indian diplomat yesterday.
India too removed top Canadian diplomat Olivier Sylvester on Tuesday.
Samir Saran, who is the president of ORF (Observer Research Foundation) – a global think tank based in New Delhi, posted on X (formerly Twitter), alleging that the Canadian government has been giving refuge to terrorists for “political outcomes” and then “blame others”. “First our neighbour and now Canada — similar storyline…breed terror at home for political outcomes and then blame others. The space given in Canada to a range of illegal activities including murders, human trafficking and organised crime is not new,” he said, tagging the Ministry of External Affairs (@MEAIndia).
Shuvaloy “Shuv” Majumder, who is the member of Parliament for Calgary Heritage, had earlier criticised the Trudeau government for “vilifying the world’s largest democracy” after the Leader of Opposition, Pierre Poilievre posted on platform X that “nobody likes to see the Canadian Prime Minister repeatedly humiliated and trampled upon the rest of the world” amidst the reported “neglect” of Trudeau at the G20 Summit in New Delhi some 10 days ago.
How Did the Relations Go Downhill?
The relations between both the countries began flailing after the MEA raised “strong concerns” with the Canadian counterpart for “promoting secessionism and inciting violence against Indian diplomats, damaging diplomatic premises, and threatening the Indian community in Canada and their places of worship”.
The last straw in the frosty ties between the two countries was during the G20 Summit in New Delhi on September 9-10 when the Canadian Prime Minister was stuck in the national capital for around 36 hours after his Airbus plane encountered a technical snag. The mood in Canada regarding Trudeau’s domestic policies and his diplomatic failure at the G20 event is bitter.
The front page of a Canadian newspaper, Toronto Sun, read “This Way Out”, with the description, “Trudeau finds he has few friends at G20 summit in India”, showing the image of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Trudeau.
In fact, Trudeau skipped the G20 dinner, according to Canada’s CTV News. Even his first withdrawal from handhold was noticed as he met PM Modi at Rajghat.
Row Over Nijjar
Trudeau had said in his Parliament on Monday that the Canadian intelligence was looking at “credible intelligence” linking the death of Nijjar and India.
Nijjar was shot dead on June 18 by two unidentified men outside a Gurdwara in Surrey in the western Canadian province of British Columbia. He was officially declared an “absconder” by the National Investigation Agency (NIA). He was also designated terrorist under Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) in July 2020. Moreover, a Red Corner Notice was also issued against the 45-year-old fugitive.
The local authorities in Surrey had put Nijjar under temporary house arrest in 2018 for his involvement in terrorist activities, but was later released.
Trudeau also said in Parliament that he had raised the issue of Nijjar’s killing with PM Modi at the G20 Summit.
There are nearly 1.4 to 1.8 million Canadians of Indian origin, and Canada has the largest population of Sikhs outside Punjab.
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