India hit back at Canada early Tuesday morning after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau linked Indian government agents to the shooting of a Sikh leader near Vancouver.
A statement from India’s Ministry of External Affairs said a senior Canadian diplomat, whose name has not been released, has been asked to leave India within the next five days.
This comes the day after the announcement, by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mélanie Joly, of the expulsion of Indian diplomat Pavan Kumar Rai, whom her ministry considers in its public register as a diplomatic agent at the head of an agency of Indian intelligence based in Ottawa.
On Parliament Hill on Tuesday morning, Mr. Trudeau and his ministers in turn sent a call for unity and calm.
“I want to reiterate that we should remain calm […] anchored in our democratic values, in the principles of the rules of law and of following the facts, of doing the work necessary to ensure justice and accountability,” the Prime Minister said in French as he went to a meeting of the Council of ministers.
He added in English that his government “did not seek to provoke or [faire] escalating » tensions with India. “We are simply presenting the facts as we understand them and we want to work with the Indian government to set everything straight. »
Calls for calm
The President of the Treasury Board, Anita Anand, recalled Tuesday that her parents are originally from India. “I hope everyone will be calm and united because it’s a difficult time,” she said in French.
“This is a moment when we must understand [cela]we must allow the legal process to continue and we must also have empathy for everyone who comes from this region of the world,” she added.
Echoing his colleague’s comments, former Immigration Minister Sean Fraser said that Ottawa wanted to express its solidarity with the Indo-Canadian and South Asian communities. “We will work to get to the bottom of [tout] this, but in the meantime, I hope that Canadians, no matter what community they come from, are able [d’être solidaires] “, said in English the man who is now Minister of Housing.
Mr. Trudeau revealed Monday in the House of Commons that Ottawa considers to be credible the allegations that Indian government agents played a role in the death of Hardeep Singh Nijjar in June.
“In recent weeks, Canadian security agencies have actively investigated credible allegations of a potential link between Indian government agents and the assassination of a Canadian citizen,” he said. Bedroom.
“Any involvement by a foreign government in the murder of a Canadian citizen on Canadian soil constitutes an unacceptable violation of our sovereignty,” he said. Such an act goes against the fundamental rules that govern free, open and democratic societies. »
Assassination in June
Mr. Nijjar was killed in the parking lot of his Sikh place of worship in Surrey, British Columbia, on June 18.
While leaders of the Sikh community in Canada immediately blamed the Indian government for the assassination, the police had always stated until now that they had not established a link with any foreign interference in this crime.
The Indian government has rejected allegations of involvement in Mr. Nijjar’s death, calling them “absurd and motivated.”
“These unsubstantiated allegations seek to divert attention from Khalistani terrorists and extremists, who have taken refuge in Canada and continue to threaten the sovereignty and territorial integrity of India,” the Indian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement. statement.
India had issued an arrest warrant for Mr. Nijjar for his advocacy of a separate Sikh state in the Indian region of Punjab, which separatists call “Khalistan”. India has long argued that such activists undermine national security, while Canada insists its citizens enjoy freedom of expression if they do not incite violence.
British Columbia police said late Monday that they were aware of Mr. Trudeau’s comments, but were unable to discuss the details of their investigation.
Poilievre wants to know more
In Ottawa on Tuesday, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre said Mr. Trudeau should share more information about what led him to make his Monday statement in Parliament. He maintained that the Prime Minister had not privately given him more details than what he had said in the House of Commons.
“We need more facts. The Prime Minister has not provided any facts,” he told reporters Tuesday on Parliament Hill.
New Democratic leader Jagmeet Singh wrote to Judge Marie-Josée Hogue, who will chair the public commission of inquiry into foreign interference, to ask her to also look at India. The Liberals have suggested that the terms of his mandate are broad enough to include any country, but also the case of Mr. Nijjar.
“In my experience, as a Sikh Canadian, there have always been suspicions that India was interfering with the democratic rights of Canadians,” Mr. Singh wrote in his letter. The announcement made yesterday by the Prime Minister confirms that these suspicions are well-founded. »
Speaking to journalists in Ottawa on Tuesday, Mr. Singh said that if these allegations are true, Canadians will have to think about their relations with India. “If it’s a state, a country, a government that has practices like that, we really must [se demander] if we want to have a relationship with a country like that,” he said in French.
The United States, United Kingdom and Australia have all issued statements calling for a full investigation into the allegations.
“We are deeply concerned by the allegations raised yesterday [lundi] by Prime Minister Trudeau, said the United States Embassy in Ottawa. We remain in regular contact with our Canadian partners. It is essential that Canada’s investigation continues and that the perpetrators are brought to justice. »