Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau revealed this Monday that the country’s intelligence services implicate the Indian authorities in the murder in Canada of a Sikh community leader.
“Any involvement of a foreign government in the murder of a Canadian on Canadian soil is an unacceptable violation of our sovereignty“he said in the Lower House of the Canadian Parliament.
Following Trudeau’s statement, Canada’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Melanie Joly, announced the expulsion of a “key diplomat” Indian, the person responsible for Indian intelligence in the country.
Canada “will not tolerate any form of interference” and the Government “will protect the sovereignty of Canada,” he said.
The prime minister added that Canada “has conveyed its deep concerns to the highest security and government officials in India” over the murder of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, occurred last June in the town of Surrey, in western Canada.
Singh Nijjar, shot by unknown assailants in the parking lot of a Sikh temple, had been accused of terrorism by Indian authorities for advocating the creation in the state of Punjab of an independent country, Khalistan, for the Sikh minority.
Trudeau informed the country’s main political leaders this Monday of the conclusions of the Canadian intelligence services.about India’s involvement in the murder and stated that during the G20 summit, held in India on September 9 and 10, he demanded explanations from his Indian counterpart, Narendra Modi.
“In the strongest possible manner, I recommend to the Government of India that collaborate with Canada to get to the bottom of this matter,” said the president, who described what hpened as “extremely serious.”
On September 1, the Canadian Government announced the suspension of talks with India for the signing of a free trade agreement, without explaining the reasons. Canada has also canceled a trade mission to India that should have taken place in October.
Around 1.8 million people of Indian origin live in Canada, of which about 770,000 are yesj. The leader of the social democratic New Democratic Party (NPD), Jagmeet Singh, the fourth party in the Canadian Parliament, is Sikh.
Source: Clarin
