Ottawa: Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau acknowledged Wednesday that he had only intelligence information and no “hard evidence” when he alleged the involvement of Indian government agents in the assassination of Khalistani separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar last year. Testifying before the public inquiry into foreign interference in federal electoral processes and democratic institutions, Trudeau claimed that Indian diplomats were collecting information on Canadians who are at odds with Narendra Modi’s government and passing it on to the highest levels within the Indian government and criminal organizations such as the Lawrence Bishnoi Gang.
“I was briefed on the fact that there was intelligence from Canada, and possibly Five Eyes allies, that made it quite clear, incredibly clear, that India was involved in this… Agents of the Indian government were involved in the murder of a Canadian on Canadian soil,” he said.
He added that it was something his government should take very seriously. The ‘Five Eyes’ network is an intelligence alliance formed by the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada and New Zealand. It is based on both surveillance and signals intelligence (SIGINT).
“India had certainly done it, and we had reason to believe that it had,” Trudeau said, adding that his government’s immediate focus was to engage with the government of India to work together on this and ensure there was accountability.
READ: Who is Lawrence Bishnoi, the gangster at the center of the India-Canada dispute? EXPLAINED
What happened during the G20 Summit in India? Trudeau remembers
Recalling the G20 summit hosted by India in September last year, he said it was a great moment for India and Canada “had the opportunity to make it a very uncomfortable summit” for India by making these allegations public. “We chose not to. We chose to continue working behind the scenes to try to get India to cooperate with us,” he said.
Trudeau said the Indian side asked for evidence “and our response was, well, it’s within their security agencies.” But the Indian side insisted on the tests. “And at that time, it was mainly about intelligence, not hard evidence. So we said, well, let’s work together and investigate their security services and maybe we can do it,” he said.
‘Prime Minister Modi’s usual response’: Trudeau
He said he met Prime Minister Modi after the end of the G20 summit in Delhi and shared that “we knew they were involved and we expressed real concern about it. He responded with the usual response on his part, which is that we have people that they are outspoken against the Indian government living in Canada and would like to see him arrested.” Trudeau said he tried to explain that there is freedom of speech in Canada to criticize foreign governments or even to criticize a Canadian government. “But as always, we would work with them on any evidence or concerns they have around terrorism or hate speech or anything that is clearly unacceptable,” he said.
India had violated Canada’s sovereignty: Trudeau
“We launched investigations. The Indian response to these accusations and our investigations was to redouble the attacks against this government, the attacks against the integrity of this government, the attacks against Canada in general, but also to arbitrarily expel dozens of Canadian diplomats from India” , said. saying. “This was a situation where we had clear indications, and certainly now even clearer indications, that India had violated Canada’s sovereignty,” he said.
He alleged that Indian diplomats were collecting information about Canadians who were at odds with the Modi government, passing that information to the highest levels within the Indian government and to criminal organizations such as the Bishnoi gang. “…It was the RCMP’s determination that that chain, or that sequence, that scheme, needed to be interrupted and made public on Monday as they did,” he said.
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) said Monday it has evidence that six Indian diplomats were involved in the alleged plot to assassinate Nijjar in June 2023. The RCMP also alleged that the Bishnoi gang is connected to government agents Indian, which is aimed at the South Asian community, specifically “pro-Khalistani elements” in the country.
India rejects Canadian police claims
On this, India strongly rejected attempts by Canadian authorities to link Indian agents to criminal gangs in Canada with official sources in New Delhi, even saying that Ottawa’s claim that it shared evidence with New Delhi in the Nijjar case was simply not true.
Sources in New Delhi also rejected Trudeau’s earlier allegations that India was engaging in activities including covert operations targeting Canadian citizens in his country. India expelled six Canadian diplomats and announced the withdrawal of its high commissioner from Canada after dismissing allegations from Ottawa linking the envoy to an investigation into Nijjar’s murder.
Nijjar was shot and killed in Surrey, British Columbia, in June of last year.
(With contributions from the agency)
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