Justin Trudeau has accused the Indian government of assassinating a Sikh separatist leader on Canadian soil.
The Canadian prime minister said he believes Narendra Modi’s administration could be behind the fatal shooting of Hardeep Singh Nijjar outside a Sikh temple in British Columbia on June 18.
Trudeau has expelled a top Indian diplomat – the head of Indian intelligence in Canada – amid the controversy.
It comes as tensions between the two countries grow, with Hindu nationalist leader Modi calling for Trudeau to crack down on Sikh protesters in Canada who want their own independent homeland in the Punjab district of north India, called Khalistan.
Trudeau made a statement about the death of Singh Nijjar, 46, who was a strong supporter of the Khalistan movement, while addressing the Canadian House of Commons on Monday.
Justin Trudeau has accused the Indian government of assassinating a Sikh separatist leader on Canadian soil. He told Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi about his suspicions ‘personally and directly’ during their meeting at the G20 in New Delhi earlier this month.
Canadian security services believe Sikh separatist leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar was assassinated by Indian agents when he was gunned down in British Columbia on June 18
Singh Nijjar, 46, was a strong supporter of the Khalistan separatist movement, which calls for the creation of a new independent homeland for Sikhs in the Punjab district of north India.
‘Today I’m rising to inform the house of an extremely serious matter,’ he told MPs.
‘I just informed the leaders of the opposition directly, I want now to speak with all Canadians.
‘Over a number of weeks 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.’
Trudeau said security services were working to ensure the ‘continued safety of all Canadians’ and vowed that ‘all steps will be taken to hold perpetrators of this murder to account’.
‘Canada has declared its deep concern to the top intelligence and security officials of the Indian government,’ he said.
‘Last week at the G20 I brought them personally and directly to Prime Minister Modi in no uncertain terms,’ Trudeau added.
‘Any involvement of a foreign government in the killing of a Canadian citizen on Canadian soil is an unacceptable violation of our sovereignty.’
He urged the Indian government ‘in the strongest possible terms’ to ‘cooperate with Canada and get to the bottom of this matter’.
Canadian Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly said ‘if proven true’ the assassination would be a major violation of the ‘most basic rule of how countries deal with each other’.
‘As a consequence we have expelled a top Indian diplomat,’ she said.
Source: Dailymail.com
