‘Failed to act against terrorism for 40 years’: Indian envoy slams Canada

India’s High Commissioner to Canada, Dinesh Patnaik, slammed Canada for its inaction against terrorist elements operating on its soil for over four decades. He called out the Canadian authorities for their failure to combat terrorism despite India’s repeated warnings and for allowing a conducive milieu for violence targeting India.

“We’ve been talking about terrorism in Canada for the last 40 years. What has anybody done about it? Not a single person has been convicted,” Patnaik said. He was specifically referring to the unresolved legacy of the 1985 Air India bombing that killed 329 people, most of them Canadians.

Advertisement

On Canada’s accusations that India had interfered in the country’s internal affairs by killing NIA-designated terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Canada in 2023, Dinesh Patnaik sharply rejected the allegations as unsubstantiated and questioned the absence of evidence during a televised interview.

“Well, where is the evidence? Every time you keep on saying ‘credible information’,” the Indian envoy said.

These allegations were primarily levelled by the former Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

Dinesh Patnaik strongly pushed back against the allegations, emphasising that the ongoing legal case in Canada does not implicate the Indian state. He called the accusation preposterous and absurd and dismissed it as mere talk given by the former prime minister. He said, “You have accused us, but where have we been implicated? The case is going on in court…And the case in court is also against four individuals. Where is the case against a state?”

Patnaik reiterated the long-standing position of India that it is willing to act if there is any credible proof. “We have said very clearly, if there is evidence ever coming out, if you provide us evidence, we will take action ourselves. We don’t need you to take action on that. What we need is for you to give us evidence for us to take action,” he said.