Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has repeated his allegations against India in the killing of Khalistani extremist Hardeep Singh Nijjar even as New Delhi said it has not received any specific information from Ottawa regarding the “absurd” claims.
Addressing a press conference at Canada’s Permanent Mission to the United Nations in New York on Thursday, Trudeau reiterated his Monday’s claim and said that he has “credible reasons to believe that agents of the Goverment of India were involved in the killing of a Canadian on Canadian soil.”
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The Canadian prime minister called upon government of India to take the issue seriously and ensure accountability and justice. “We call upon the Government of India to take seriously this matter and to work with us to shed full transparency and ensure accountability and justice in this matter,” he said.
He also highlighted that the issue was discussed with Prime Minister Narendra Modi during their pull-aside on the sidelines of the G20 summit in New Delhi. India also admitted that the discussion did take place and PM Modi strongly rejected Trudeau’s claims.
“Yes these allegations were raised by Canadian PM Justin Trudeau with PM (Modi) and PM rejected them,” the external affairs ministry said in response to Canada’s allegations.
MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi also said while India is willing to look into specific information into Nijjar killing allegations, Ottawa has not shared any such info regarding that.
“We are willing to look at any specific information that is provided to us, but so far we have received no specific information from Canada,” Bagchi said on Thursday answering queries.
While the diplomatic ties between India and Canada remained strained for the last few months, they plummeted after Trudeau’s allegations and both countries have taken several moves against each other including expulsion of each other’s diplomats.
New Delhi has also asked Ottawa to have parity in its diplomatic strength in the country citing their “interference in India’s internal matters”. India has also suspended visa services for Canadian nationals.
