The Indian Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Tuesday considered absurd the accusations by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who implicated New Delhi in the murder of a Sikh activist in Canada.
“Allegations of the Indian government’s involvement in any violence in Canada are absurd,” the ministry said in a statement.
“We are a democratic State with a strong commitment to the rule of law” and “such baseless allegations seek to divert attention from Khalistani terrorists and extremists who have taken refuge in Canada and continue to threaten the sovereignty and territorial integrity of India” , refers in the same note it is added that India is concerned about the inaction of the Canadian Government.
Canada expelled a senior Indian diplomat on Monday as it investigates allegations of links between Indian authorities and the assassination of a Sikh leader in Canada.
Canadian Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly said the head of Indian intelligence in Canada was expelled as a result of this investigation.
“If true, this would be a serious violation of our sovereignty and the most basic norm of how countries treat each other. As a result, we expelled a senior Indian diplomat,” the Canadian minister said.
Also on Monday, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau revealed that his country’s intelligence services implicated Indian authorities in the murder, in Canada, of a leader of the Sikh community.
“Any involvement by a foreign government in the murder of a Canadian on Canadian soil is an unacceptable violation of our sovereignty,” Trudeau said, speaking in the lower house of Canada’s parliament.
The prime minister added that Canada “has conveyed its deep concern to the highest security officials and the Indian Government” over the murder of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, which occurred in June in the city of Surrey, in western Canada.
Singh Nijjar, shot on June 18 by unknown assailants in the parking lot of a Sikh temple, was charged with terrorism by Indian authorities for advocating the creation of an independent country in the Khalistan state of Punjab for the ethnic and religious minority. Sikh. .
On September 1, the Canadian government announced the suspension of talks with India to sign a free trade agreement, without explaining the reasons. Canada also canceled a trade mission to India scheduled for October.
About 1.8 million people of Indian origin live in Canada, of which about 770,000 are Sikhs.
The leader of the social democratic New Democratic Party (NPD), Jagmeet Singh, the fourth largest party in Canada’s parliament, is Sikh.
Source: TSF
