Canadian opposition leader Maxime Bernier. Photo: Wikipedia
A Canadian opposition leader has accused Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of using murder of hardeep singh nijjar To divert attention from other controversies and asked the government to take away the Khalistani militant’s posthumous citizenship to correct a previous administrative mistake.
People’s Party of Canada leader Maxime Bernier also said that the Khalistani terrorist who is the central figure in the entire controversy was a foreign terrorist who was somehow granted citizenship in 2007.
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) on Monday said it has identified India’s High Commissioner to the country and five other diplomats as persons of interest in the killing of Nijjar in June 2023. The RCMP also said they had uncovered evidence of an intensified campaign against Canadians by agents of the Indian government.
Bernier said that if true, then the allegations made by the RCMP and the Liberal government that Indian diplomats participated in criminal activities in our territory are very serious and must be dealt with.
Main points of India-Canada dispute
He added, “So far, however, we have not been provided any evidence. And Trudeau is clearly using this crisis to distract from other controversies.”
Bernier said Nijjar was a foreign terrorist who multiple times used fraudulent documents to claim asylum in Canada.
“One myth must be dispelled, however: the central figure in this controversy, Hardeep Singh Nijjar, the Khalistani terrorist who was murdered last year, was a Canadian. He was actually a foreign terrorist who had claimed asylum in Canada several times. Started in 1997. His claims were rejected but he was still allowed to stay in this country and was somehow granted citizenship in 2007,” he said.
He said, “Nijjar was not a Canadian. To correct this administrative mistake, Canada should probably posthumously strip him of his citizenship.”
He should have been deported after his first fraudulent asylum claim, Bernier said, like the hundreds of thousands of fraudulent asylum claimants currently in Canada.
“All of this is happening because Canada has knowingly invited these foreigners and their tribal conflicts into our country for decades. We must recognize this huge mistake and move forward instead of jeopardizing our relationship with a rising world power. We must work with the Indian government to find solutions. We are important partners on this issue,” he said.
Relations between India and Canada were severely strained following Prime Minister Trudeau’s allegations of “possible” involvement of Indian agents in the shooting death of Nijjar in Surrey, British Columbia in September last year. New Delhi had dismissed Trudeau’s allegations as “absurd”.
India has repeatedly criticized the Trudeau government for taking a soft stance on supporters of the Khalistan movement living in Canada. The Khalistan movement is banned in India, but has support among Sikh immigrants, particularly in Canada.
India expels six Canadian diplomats on Monday and announced it was withdrawing its high commissioner to Canada after rejecting Ottawa’s accusations that the envoy was linking the investigation to Nijjar’s murder.
However, Canada said it had expelled six Indian diplomats.
The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) in New Delhi on Monday said India has received “a diplomatic communication from Canada stating that the Indian High Commissioner and other diplomats are ‘persons of interest’ in a matter related to an investigation in that country”.
“We have no confidence in the commitment of the current Canadian government to ensure their safety. Therefore, the Government of India has decided to recall the High Commissioner and other targeted diplomats and officials,” the Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement.
published – October 18, 2024 07:07 PM IST