Trudeau Accuses Indian Diplomats Of Links To Criminal Violence

(MENAFN- Live Mint) (Bloomberg) -- Prime Minister Justin Trudeau accused Indian diplomats of backing a pattern of criminal harassment and violence against Canadians, escalating a dispute that began last year when he suggested Indian agents were involved in the murder of a Canadian Sikh activist in British Columbia.

Canada expelled six officials earlier on Monday after it said India refused to waive their diplomatic immunity for questioning over what Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly called“a number of violent incidents” targeting Canada's South Asian community, particularly Sikhs. Denying involvement, India has rebuked Canada and expelled six of its senior diplomats.

At a press conference in Ottawa, Trudeau laid out the crux of the Canadian government's case against India. Hours earlier, on the morning of Canada's Thanksgiving public holiday, the Royal Mounted Canadian Police held an extraordinary briefing to share the fresh allegations implicating Indian government agents with the public.

“It is obvious that the government of India made a fundamental error in thinking that they could engage in supporting criminal activity against Canadians here on Canadian soil, whether it be murders or extortion or other violent acts,” Trudeau said.

“That is why we have taken such significant measures, why the RCMP chose to come out today and disrupt the pattern of Indian diplomats collecting through questionable and illegal means information on Canadian citizens, that were then fed to criminal organizations, that would then take violent actions, from extortion to murder, against Canadians,” the prime minister said.

Trudeau and Joly said they had been in touch with their Indian counterparts, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar. Joly added she was also in contact with the foreign ministers of Canada's Five Eyes intelligence-sharing allies, the US, UK, Australia and New Zealand. US prosecutors in a separate case have accused an Indian government agent of directing a thwarted plot to assassinate a Sikh separatist and US citizen on American soil.

Trudeau said Canadian officials and agencies have tried to work with India's government, but its response has been“to deny, to obfuscate, to attack me personally and the integrity of the government of Canada.”

Joly said that the“sitting diplomats” were involved in violent acts that increased after Trudeau's allegation of India's possible involvement in the June 2023 murder of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, an activist in the movement for an independent state called Khalistan for Sikhs in the Punjab region. India considered him a terrorist.

Asked if sanctions or other measures beyond expelling officials were being considered, Joly said,“everything is on the table.”

Indian government representatives in Ottawa and Vancouver didn't immediately respond to emailed requests for comment. Earlier, India accused Trudeau's government of baselessly targeting its officials and endangering their safety.

“We have no faith in the current Canadian Government's commitment to ensure their security,” India's Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement.

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