Canada shared 'credible allegations' about Nijjar's killing with India weeks ago: Trudeau

Amid the deteriorating diplomatic ties between India and Canada, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Friday made a big statement and said that Ottawa had shared allegations regarding the killing of Khalistani terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar with India weeks ago.  

Addressing a joint press conference with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Trudeau said, "In regards to India, Canada has shared the credible allegations that I talked about on Monday. With India, we did that many weeks ago. We are there to work constructively with India and we hope that they engage with us so that we can get to the bottom of this very serious matter."

Trudeau’s statement came days after he alleged India's role behind the killing of Khalistani terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar. Following his comments in the Canadian Parliament, tensions escalated between the two nations with India rejecting the allegations as ‘absurd’ and ‘motivated’.

The Ministry of External Affairs in a press release said that Canadian PM Justin Trudeau had made similar allegations to PM Narendra Modi and they were "completely rejected." 

MEA in a press release said, "We have seen and rejected the statement of the Canadian Prime Minister in their Parliament, as also the statement by their Foreign Minister. Allegations of the Government of India's involvement in any act of violence in Canada are absurd and motivated."

It further said, "Similar allegations were made by the Canadian Prime Minister to our Prime Minister, and were completely rejected."

Diplomatic row over Nijjar’s murder 

A diplomatic row erupted between India and Canada after it was reported that the Canadian authorities expelled a senior Indian diplomat in light of the claim of New Delhi's involvement in the killing of the wanted separatist leader. Further to this, in a tit-for-tat, India on Tuesday expelled a senior Canadian diplomat and asked him to leave the country within 5 days. 

On Thursday, Ministry of External Affairs Spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said that the allegations made by Canada regarding the "potential links" of India behind the killing of Khalistani extremist Hardeep Singh Nijjar are “politically driven”. 

"Yes, I do think there is a degree of prejudice here. They have made allegations and taken action against them. To us, it seems that these allegations by the government of Canada are primarily politically driven," Bagchi said while addressing a weekly presser.

No evidence behind allegations 

Amid the rising tensions with both countries responding to each others claims, the Canadian Prime Minister during a news conference in New York on Thursday failed to present any evidence to back the claims he made in the Canadian Parliament. 

Trudeau was repeatedly quizzed on the nature of the allegations but stuck to reiterating that there were "credible reasons" to believe that India was linked to the death of Nijjar. "There are credible reasons to believe that agents of the Government of India were involved in the killing of a Canadian on Canadian soil. That is ...there is something of utmost foundational importance in a country's rule of law in a world where international rules-based order matters," said Trudeau.

(With agency inputs)