Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his former defence minister Harjit Singh Sajjan, who were on their way to Amritsar, a city in northern India’s Punjab, in 2018, were reportedly told that their plane won’t be allowed to land unless they “agreed to meet” with the then Congress leader and chief minister Capt. Amarinder Singh.
A Canadian news outlet – The Globe and Mail – cited a “source with direct knowledge” claiming, “India refused to let PM Trudeau’s plan land in Punjab unless he and his defence minister agreed to meet a government official who wanted to air grievances about Sikh separatists in Canada.
Interestingly, the report comes within days after the arrest of three Indian nationals accused of killing Hardeep Singh Nijjar, who was designated as a terrorist by India. Karan Brar (22) Kamalpreet Singh (22) and Karanpreet Singh (28), all residing in Edmonton, were charged on Friday last week with first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder.
The meeting happened
The report quoted the source as saying that Trudeau and Sajjan “wanted to avoid Capt. Singh because he had described Sajjan’s father as a terrorist owing to the elder Sajjan’s previous position leading the World Sikh Organisation (WSO).”
But Trudeau and Sajjan ultimately met Capt. Singh. During the meeting, Singh handed them a dossier containing the names of 10 Sikh separatists, including Nijjar’s, “whose activities the Indian government wanted to be curtailed” and wanted Canada to deport or rein in them.
The Canadian daily claimed that the dossier which was handed over to Trudeau was part of a longstanding effort by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government to urge Canada to take legal action against Sikh separatists.
Tensions between India and Canada escalated after Nijjar was killed in June 2023, with Trudeau, months later, claiming India’s involvement in his death.
On Tuesday, Canada’s foreign minister Melanie Joly said Canada “stands by the allegations” that Indian agents were involved in the killing of Nijjar.
“Canada’s position has always been clear. Our job is to protect Canadians and we stand by the allegations that a Canadian was killed on Canadian soil by Indian agents,” Joly said.
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‘We stand by allegations that Nijjar was killed by Indian agents,’ says Canada’s foreign minister
For Canada, the discussion with Capt. Singh was ’not pleasant’
The Canadian daily quoted the source claiming that the discussion with Capt. Singh was “not pleasant” and Trudeau assured that they would look at the list presented by India which was previously shared with the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS).
The dossier was shared at a time when CSIS had been working with India’s intelligence agency, Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), to investigate the activities of Sikh separatists living in Canada, including possible fundraising efforts and any links to terrorism, The Globe and Mail report claimed.
Meanwhile, in 2023, when Trudeau alleged Indian hand in Nijjar’s killing, Capt. Singh said in a post on X that the claims were “completely baseless and he’s (Trudeau) only playing to the vote bank gallery.”
“During his visit to Amritsar in 2018, I had brought to the notice of Justin Trudeau as to how the Canadian land was being used against India, still the Canadian govt failed to take any remedial measures so far,” Capt. Singh had said.
With inputs from agencies
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