India-Canada ties all time low: Delhi’s reaction awaited following Trudeau’s allegations
Trudeau on Tuesday stating in his country’s parliament that the security agencies were investigating a link between the “agents” Indian government and the killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar earlier this year.
Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Joly said that a top Indian diplomat posted in the country has been expelled based on the “investigations” in what would be the first such action against an Indian diplomat posted in the West.
The Indian government is expected to react strongly during the course of the day on these developments.
«Canadian security agencies have been actively pursuing credible allegations of a potential link between agents of the Government of India and the killing of a Canadian citizen, Hardeep Singh Nijjar,» Trudeau said while speaking at the House of Commons in Ottawa on Tuesday.
"Canada has declared its deep concerns to the top intelligence security officials of the Indian government. Last week, at the G20, I brought them personally and directly to Prime Minister Modi in no uncertain terms," the Canadian Prime Minister said.
Trudeau urged the Indian government to «cooperate with Canada to get to the bottom of this matter» and reiterate its position on «extra-judicial operations» in another country.
«If proven true, this would be a great violation of our sovereignty and of the most basic rule of how countries deal with each other,» Joly said.
«As a consequence, we have expelled a top Indian diplomat,» Joly said.
In 2022, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) announced a Rs 10 lakh reward on Nijjar after he was accused of conspiring to kill a Hindu priest in Jalandhar. Nijjar, who was based in Canada, was the chief of the Khalistan Tiger Force (KTF), the organisation accused of killing the priest.
