Justin Trudeau has said there is \u201ccredible evidence\u201d India is responsible for the alleged assassination of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a prominent Canadian Sikh leader.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The allegations from Canada\u2019s prime minister is likely to further strain relations between the two nations. On Monday, Trudeau told the House of Commons of\u00a0Canada that, in recent weeks, national security authorities had been probing allegations that New Delhi was behind a state-sponsored assassination.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He said he raised the issue \u201cin no uncertain terms\u201d with the Indian prime minister,\u00a0Narendra Modi, when the two met briefly in New Delhi last week for the G20 summit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAny involvement of a foreign government in the killing of a Canadian citizen on Canadian soil is an unacceptable violation of our sovereignty,\u201d he said. \u201cCanada is a rule of law country, the protection of our citizens in defence of our sovereignty are fundamental.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOur top priorities have therefore been one, that our law enforcement and security agencies ensure the continued safety of all Canadians. And two, that all steps be taken to hold perpetrators of this murder to account.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Trudeau said the alleged killing \u201cis contrary to the fundamental rules by which free, open, and democratic societies conduct themselves\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The New Democratic party leader, Jagmeet Singh, who is Sikh, said there must be consequences for the assassination. \u201cTo hear the prime minister of Canada corroborate a potential link between a murder of a Canadian citizen on Canadian soil by a foreign government is something I could never have imagined,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe will ensure that no rock is unturned, that every possible link is examined.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Conservative leader, Pierre Poilievre, said the allegations, if true, \u201crepresent an outrageous affront to Canada\u201d, adding that citizens should be free from extrajudicial killings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He added: \u201cCanadians deserve to be protected on Canadian soil. We call on the Indian government to act with utmost transparency as authorities investigate this murder, because the truth must come out.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In June,\u00a0Nijjar was shot and killed\u00a0in front of the Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara in Surrey, British Columbia. He was a strong advocate of the Khalistan movement, which seeks an independent homeland for Sikhs in India\u2019s Punjab region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
New Delhi had previously alleged Nijjar was part of a plan to murder a Hindu priest in Punjab, offering a bounty of nearly $12,000 (\u00a39,688). The fatal shooting of Nijjar led many to accuse India of playing a role in the killing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cToday, the prime minister of Canada has publicly said what Sikhs in Canada have known for decades \u2013 India actively targets Sikhs in Canada,\u201d said the World Sikh Organisation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The foreign affairs minister, M\u00e9lanie Joly, said Canada had expelled a \u201ckey Indian diplomat\u201d and \u201cexpects India to fully collaborate with us and ultimately to get to the bottom of this\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The diplomat is the head of the Research and Analysis Wing (Raw), India\u2019s foreign intelligence agency in Canada. \u201cWe\u2019ll hold the perpetrators accountable and bring them to justice,\u201d said the public safety minister, Dominic LeBlanc, adding the RCMP was leading the murder investigation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Indian high commission in Ottawa did not immediately respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The announcement comes a week after Trudeau was in New Delhi for the G20, where there were signs of tensions with Modi. After the meeting, Modi\u2019s office said the Indian leader had \u201cstrong concerns about continuing anti-Indian activists of extremist elements in Canada\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
India and Canada have been negotiating a trade agreement, but talks have been paused.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Justin Trudeau has said there is \u201ccredible evidence\u201d India is responsible for the alleged assassination of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a prominent Canadian Sikh leader. The allegations from Canada\u2019s prime minister is likely to further strain relations between the two nations. On Monday, Trudeau told the House of Commons of\u00a0Canada that, in recent weeks, national security […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":37918,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_post_source_name":"","_post_source_url":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[11264,10666,8439,5268,12913,1953,11017,1977,11254,11555,7340,10000,12257,913,2825,8041,5934,6046,8493,2264,401,3561,10665,8341,644,5440,8342,10197,10419,8923,4804,10671,9515,10454,10342,9833,11289,12287,5382,6479,7693,12085,11973,10693,3174,6978,5655,11259,10692,8840,10329,6258,146,6348,36,594],"class_list":["post-37917","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world-news","tag-allegations","tag-assasination","tag-assassination","tag-british","tag-british-columbia","tag-canada","tag-canadian","tag-canadian-prime-minister-justin-trudeau","tag-citizen","tag-citizens","tag-columbia","tag-conservative","tag-delhi","tag-democratic","tag-democratic-party","tag-diplomat","tag-expelled","tag-g20","tag-g20-summit","tag-government","tag-guru","tag-guru-nanak","tag-hardeep-singh-nijjar","tag-hindu","tag-house-of-commons","tag-india","tag-indian","tag-investigation","tag-justice","tag-justin","tag-justin-trudeau","tag-khalistan","tag-killed","tag-killing","tag-law","tag-meeting","tag-modi","tag-movement","tag-murder","tag-narendra-modi","tag-national-security","tag-nations","tag-one","tag-ottawa","tag-prime-minister","tag-rock","tag-security","tag-shot","tag-sikh","tag-strong","tag-trade","tag-transparency","tag-truth","tag-us","tag-world","tag-who"],"blocksy_meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37917","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37917"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37917\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37919,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37917\/revisions\/37919"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37918"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37917"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37917"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37917"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}