Trudeau: India should take allegation of Nijjar’s murder seriously

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21st Sep, 2023. 12:06 am
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Canada accuses India of involvement in the killing of a Sikh leader on Canadian soil.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has called on India to take the allegations seriously.

Canada has expelled a top Indian diplomat in response to the allegations.

Justin Trudeau emphasizes the importance of India treating the accusation regarding the murder of Hardeep Singh Nijjar with utmost seriousness.

The Canadian government claims to possess evidence suggesting that individuals affiliated with the Indian government could be linked to the killing of a Sikh leader on Canadian territory during the recent summer.

The allegations were revealed publicly by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in the House of Commons on Monday afternoon. “Over the past number of weeks,” Trudeau told the House, “Canadian security agencies have been actively pursuing credible allegations of a potential link between agents of the government of India and the killing of a Canadian citizen, Hardeep Singh Nijjar.”

If the allegations prove to be true, it would constitute an exceedingly rare instance of a deliberate assassination occurring on ostensibly friendly foreign soil—arguably the most audacious since the retaliatory actions taken by Israel following the tragic 1972 Olympic massacre.

India’s alleged involvement in this murder has triggered a significant diplomatic crisis between Ottawa and New Delhi, with potential ripple effects on India’s broader international relationships, thereby adding complexity to the geopolitical dynamics in the Indo-Pacific region.

On June 18, Hardeep Singh Nijjar delivered a speech at the Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara, where he served as president, in Surrey, British Columbia.

Following his speech, he proceeded to his car in the parking lot. Just after 8 p.m., two individuals wearing masks approached Nijjar’s vehicle and opened fire.

The assailants then fled the scene in a waiting getaway car.

While the Royal Canadian Mounted Police have not yet disclosed the identities of the suspected gunmen, the homicide investigators have managed to identify their vehicle.

Trudeau said he presented the accusations directly to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi “in no uncertain terms” when the two met in New Delhi during the Group of 20 summit last week. Ottawa has also raised the issue with Indian intelligence. “Any involvement of a foreign government in the killing of a Canadian citizen on Canadian soil is an unacceptable violation of our sovereignty,” Trudeau said, demanding India’s full cooperation with the investigation.

On Monday, Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly announced that Canada had expelled a “top Indian diplomat.” She later clarified that the expelled Indian official was the head of the Canada station of the Research and Analysis Wing, India’s foreign intelligence agency. Ottawa named the official as Pavan Kumar Rai—the Indian high commission in Ottawa lists Rai as the minister responsible for “community affairs.”

In a public statement sent to Foreign Policy upon a request for comment and attributed to High Commissioner Sanjay Kumar Verma, the Indian government rejected the accusation. “Allegations of Government of India’s involvement in any act of violence in Canada are absurd and motivated,” it reads.

It goes on to accuse the Canadian government of trying to “shift the focus from Khalistani terrorists and extremists, who have been provided shelter in Canada and continue to threaten India’s sovereignty and territorial integrity” and of doing too little to tackle “anti-India elements operating from their soil.” India later announced that it had expelled a senior Canadian diplomat.

Opposition leader Pierre Poilievre told the House of Commons that the allegations, if they are true, represent an “outrageous affront to Canada’s sovereignty.”

Trudeau: India should take allegation of Nijjar’s murder seriously

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