New Delhi: After three Indians were arrested by Canada, Canadian foreign minister Melanie Joly re-asserted that Ottawa stands by the allegation that Hardeep Singh Nijjar was “killed on Canadian soil by Indian agents”.
Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, she said, in remarks published by Canadian media, that she wanted to let the investigation by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) continue without any commentary.
“We stand by the allegations that a Canadian was killed on Canadian soil by Indian agents,” she said, adding, “the investigation by the RCMP is being done. I won’t further comment and no other officials from our government will further comment”.
She also said her goal was still to conduct diplomacy with India in private.
Last Friday, Canadian police arrested three Indian nationals saying they were members of an alleged hit squad involved in the murder of Hardeep Singh Nijjar – who the Indian home ministry says was a Khalistani terrorist – in British Columbia last year.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had said in September last year that Indian government agents had been involved in the shooting.
India had dismissed the allegations and claimed that Canada had not done enough to halt the activities of Khalistani groups.
Speaking at the Montreal Council on Foreign Relations, Indian high commissioner to Canada Sanjay Kumar Verma said the deeper problems underneath the recent “negative” developments have to do with Canada’s misunderstanding of “decades-old issues”, which he blames Canadians of Indian origin for resurfacing.
A day after the arrests had been announced, Indian external affairs minister S. Jaishankar had implied that organised crime was behind the Nijjar shootout.
He said that “the fact is a number of gangland people with organised crime links from Punjab have been made welcome in Canada”.
Jaishankar claimed that Canada had continued to allow the entry of criminals from India despite warnings from New Delhi.
“We have been telling Canada, saying, ‘Look, these are wanted criminals from India. You have given them visas, you let them have come, many of them, in false documentation. And yet you allow them to live there.’”
When Canadian federal immigration minister Marc Miller was asked to comment on the immigration status of the three arrested Indians, he declined.
On Jaishankar’s remarks, he noted, “The Indian foreign minister’s entitled to his opinion. It’s just not accurate.”
