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NEW DELHI: Shortly after India took an aggresive stance on its relationship with Canada by deciding to withdraw the Indian High Commissioner to Canada Sanjay Kumar Verma and other diplomats, the Canadian Charge d’Affaires Stewart Wheeler claimed that Canada had provided proof of ties between agenst of the government and the murder of an Indian citizen.
“Canada has provided credible, irrefutable evidence of ties between agents of the Government of India and the murder of a Canadian citizen on Canadian soil. Now, it is time for India to live up to what it said it would do and look into all those allegations. It is in the interest of both our countries and the people of our countries to get to the bottom of this. Canada stands ready to cooperate with India.”
Earlier, the MEA had summoned Wheeler and informed him of the decision to withdraw the Diplomats from Canada.
In its statement the MEA said,”The Canadian Charge d’Affaires was summoned by the Secretary (East) this evening. He was informed that the baseless targeting of the Indian High Commissioner and other diplomats and officials in Canada was completely unacceptable.”
“It was underlined that in an atmosphere of extremism and violence, the Trudeau Government’s actions endangered their safety. We have no faith in the current Canadian Government’s commitment to ensure their security. Therefore, the Government of India has decided to withdraw the High Commissioner and other targeted diplomats and officials,” the MEA added.
It was also conveyed that India reserves the right to take further steps in response to the Trudeau Government’s support for extremism, violence and separatism against India.
On Monday, India “strongly” rejected a diplomatic communication from Canada suggesting that the Indian High Commissioner and other diplomats were “persons of interest” in an investigation and termed it as “preposterous imputations” and part of the political agenda of the Justin Trudeau government.
In a statement, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said that Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made certain allegations in September 2023.
However, the Canadian government has not shared a single piece of evidence with the Indian government despite many requests from them.
MEA noted that Trudeau’s hostility has long been in evidence and added that his cabinet has included individuals who have openly associated with an extremist and separatist agenda regarding India. It noted that the Canadian PM’s “naked interference” in Indian internal politics in December 2020 showed how far he was ready to go in this regard.
The Ministry of External Affairs also accused the Trudeau-led government of providing space to violent extremists and terrorists to harass, threaten and intimidate Indian diplomats and community leaders in Canada, which included death threats to them and Indian leaders. The MEA asserted that all these activities have been justified in the name of freedom of speech.
The ties between India and Canada soured after Trudeau alleged in the Canadian Parliament last year that it has “credible allegations” of India’s hand in the killing of Khalistani terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar.
India has denied all the allegations, calling them “absurd” and “motivated” and has accused Canada of giving space to extremist and anti-India elements in their country.
Nijjar, who was designated a terrorist by India’s National Investigation Agency in 2020, was shot and killed outside a Gurdwara in Surrey in June last year.
