'Khalistani Supporters Present in Canada': On Backfoot, Trudeau Finally Validates India’s Stand

New Delhi: Amid ongoing diplomatic friction between New Delhi and Ottawa, Canian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau mitted that supporters of Khalistan are indeed present in Cana. Trudeau’s mission, me during Diwali celebrations with Indian Canian community at Parliament Hill in Ottawa, affirmed India’s position that his government has been a haven for Khalistani extremists.

Relations between India and Cana deteriorated when Trudeau alleged that Indian nts might have been involved in killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a pro-Khalistan extremist, claims that India immediately dismissed as “absurd” and “baseless.”

Furrmore, Trudeau labelled Indian High Commissioner Sanjay Kumar Verma as a “person of interest” in an unspecified investigation, a term suggesting suspicion without formal charges. Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) reacted firmly, labeling Trudeau’s accusations “preposterous” and, in response, expelled six Canian diplomats, setting an October 19, 2024, deline for ir departure.

Later, testifying before Public Inquiry into Foreign Interference in Ottawa, Trudeau conceded that he h t provided India with concrete evidence to back his claims regarding Nijjar’s assassination.

A couple of days back, Ujjal Dosanjh, a Sikh himself and former federal cabinet minister under Prime Minister Paul Martin, in a column for Canian newspaper National Post argued that Trudeau's approach has empowered Khalistani extremists and created fear among moderate Sikhs.  

"Canian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is "sociologically and politically" an "idiot" who has never truly understood that vast majority of Sikhs are quite secular in ir outlook and want thing to do with Khalistan", Dosanjh said.

78-year-old former NDP premier of British Columbia blamed Trudeau of being responsible for what column describes as Canian Sikh population, largest Sikh diaspora in world, being "co-opted by Khalistanis to point where this obscure separatist movement has become a Canian problem".

“A silent majority of Sikhs do t want to have anything to do with Khalistan. y just don’t speak out because y’re afraid of violence and violent repercussions,” he asserted.

Dosanjh said Trudeau "never really understood vast majority of Sikhs are quite secular in ir outlook, despite fact that y go to temple”.

“Khalistanis are t a majority, and fact body speaks against m is out of fear,” he said. Khalistani supporters control many of temples in Cana. And it’s Trudeau’s fault, Dosanjh said, “that Canians w equate Khalistanis with Sikhs, as if we are all Khalistanis if we’re Sikhs”.