Trudeau’s deposition at Commission of Inquiry confirms Canada did not share any evidence: India
By Anish Kumar | First Published Oct 17, 2024, 7:47 AM ISTAmid rising tensions between Canada and India, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau acknowledged that his government did not provide any "hard evidence" to India when first raising the issue of New Delhi's alleged involvement in the killing of Khalistani activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar in September 2023. Trudeau clarified that the claims were based on intelligence inputs.
New Delhi: Amid the escalating diplomatic row to an unprecedented level between the two countries, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Wednesday (Oct 16) revealed that his government did not share any “hard evidence” with India when he raised the issue, for the first time in September 2023, of New Delhi’s involvement in the killing of Khalistani activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar. He said it was only “intelligence” inputs.
Testifying before a federal commission which is examining the foreign interference in the country, Trudeau said: “They (New Delhi) asked us how much you do know? Give us the evidence you have in this and our response was well, it’s within your security agencies, you should be looking into how much they know you should be engaging.”
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“They asked to show the evidence and at that point, it was primarily intelligence, not hard evidentiary proof,” Trudeau told the Canadian Parliament’s Foreign Interference Commission.
He said there is credible evidence that agents of the Indian government were involved in the killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar.
On making the decision public, he said: “We wanted the public to know that we were taking action.” Trudeau also claimed that the Canadian agencies tried to work behind the scenes and get India to cooperate with us before everything was made public in the killing.
The 45-year-old Khalistani activist, Hardeep Singh Nijjar was shot and killed in June 2023 by two gunmen outside a Sikh temple in a Vancouver suburb. Since then his killing has fuelled a significant rift between the two countries.
During the G20 Summit in New Delhi in September last year, Trudeau raised this issue with his Indian counterpart, Narendra Modi. It is said that he was sought for “proof.”
Talking about the incident, Trudeau said: “In August, intelligence from Canada and The Five Eyes (Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the UK, and the US) made it clear that India was involved … agents from India were involved on Canadian soil and told them we have real concerns that your security agencies are involved.”
“India’s response to our investigation was to double down on attacks against our government… we told India ‘it is not hard evidence but it is just intelligence at that point .. India undermined our government and governance’ … there were clear indications that India has violated our sovereignty,” he said.
Trudeau appeared before the Canadian Parliament’s Foreign Interference Commission two days after both sides expelled each other’s six diplomats after Ottawa's allegation that Indian High Commissioner to Canada Sanjay Verma and other diplomats were “persons of interest” in the investigation.
In his deposition at the Commission of Inquiry, Trudeau named gangster Lawrence Bishnoi and said that Indian diplomats were collecting information on Canadians and passing it to his gang.
Before him, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) had also mentioned Bishnoi’s gang involvement in the murder of Nijjar.
In a hard-worded statement, the Ministry of External Affairs said that Canada did not share a “shred of evidence” of India's involvement in Nijjar's killing despite repeated requests. It also accused Trudeau of being involved in vote bank politics and not doing enough to tackle separatist elements on Canadian soil.
Trudeau’s deposition at Commission of Inquiry confirms Canada did not share any evidence: India
Within hours of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s claim that his government did not share any “hard evidence, only intelligence” with New Delhi in the killing of the Khalistani activist, Hardeep Singh Nijjar in 2023, India on Thursday hit back at him and said, "What we have heard today only confirms what we have been saying consistently.”
In response to a media query, the Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson, Randhir Jaiswal said: “…. We have been saying consistently all along that Canada has presented us with no evidence whatsoever in support of the serious allegations that it has chosen to level against India and Indian diplomats.”
He also said, “The responsibility for the damage that this cavalier behaviour has caused to India-Canada relations lies with Prime Minister Trudeau alone.”
Appearing before the Canadian Parliament’s Foreign Interference Commission, Trudeau said that Canada had "no hard evidentiary proof" when he first approached India last year. It only had “intelligence” inputs.
Nijjar was murdered on June 18, 2023 by two gunmen outside a Sikh temple in a Vancouver suburb. In this regard, Trudeau talked to the Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi in September 2023, on the sidelines of the G20 Summit in New Delhi and informed him that it would be made public.
PM Modi had asked him to share the intelligence he had about the murder.
He also stated that G-20 Delhi summit could have been an uncomfortable summit for India if we had gone public ahead of time.
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