Canada “stands by the allegations” that Indian agents were involved in killing of Khalistani terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar, said the country’s foreign minister Melanie Joly.
Talking to reporters on Parliament Hill before the federal Cabinet’s weekly meeting, Canada’s foreign minister Joly said: “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.”
It is worth mentioning that Canada has still not provided any proof of India’s involvement in Khalistan terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar’s killing.
“Investigation by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) is being done. I won’t further comment and no other officials from my government will further comment. What I am telling though on the question of relationship with India is, I think that its always better when diplomacy remains in private and Canada will continue to stand by first protecting Canadians, making sure that we also protect our sovereignty and in the end also we need to protect our rule of law,” she said.
Joly was responding to a question where she was asked about the arrest of three Indian nationals by Canada on Friday who were charged over Nijjar’s murder.
The three men were identified as Karanpreet Singh, 28, Kamalpreet Singh, 22 and Karan Brar, 22, all of them living in Edmonton, Alberta from where they were taken into custody.
On Sunday, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said India will wait for the Canadian Police to share information on the arrest of the three Indian nationals, adding that the suspects “apparently are Indians of some kind of gang background.”
“We’ll have to wait for the police to tell us. But, as I said, one of our concerns which we have been telling them is that, you know, they have allowed organised crime from India, specifically from Punjab, to operate in Canada,” Jaishankar said.
EAM Jaishankar also criticised the Justin Trudeau-led Canadian government for issuing visas to people with links to organised crimes for “political purposes” despite warnings from the Indian government.
India’s foreign minister said the Trudeau government has given legitimacy to “extremism, separatism and advocates of violence” in the name of free speech.
The minister further called Canada India’s “biggest problem” because “in Canada, actually, today the party in power in Canada, and other parties in Canada have given these kinds of extremism, separatism, and advocates of violence a certain legitimacy in the name of free speech. See, when you tell them something, their answer is no no we are a democratic country but it is free speech.”
Jaishankar’s remarks were countered by Canada’s Immigration Minister Marc Miller, who said: “We are not lax. The Indian foreign minister is entitled to his opinion. I am going to let him speak his mind. It’s just not accurate.
With inputs from agencies
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‘We stand by allegations that Nijjar was killed by Indian agents,’ says Canada’s foreign minister
