The assassination of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a Canadian Sikh took a toll on both the countries Canada and India, expelling each other’s ambassadors. The diplomatic rift between both the countries turned worse and was further triggered by the accusations made by Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau of Indian government agents’ linkage to the murder of Nijjar. On Monday, India dismissed the charges made by Ottawa to designate high commissioner Sanjay Verma and the other five officials as persons of interest in the murder case investigation and also expelled six Canadian diplomats, including Canadian chargé d’affaires Stewart Wheeler. India also decides to withdraw Verma and the other five officials.
Canada is yet to provide evidence to support the charges brought up by Trudeau regarding involvement of Indian officials in the killing of Sikh separatist Nijjar and in other criminal activities. One of the Indian officials by maintaining anonymity said, “A central assertion made by all Canadian officials is that convincing evidence has been presented to India but this is not true”. The assertions made by Canada were further repeated by Stewart Wheeler where he mentions that the Indian government must look into the allegations brought up against them in the murder of Nijjar. He also mentions that the probe is for the interest of both the countries and Canada is always ready to cooperate with India.
In India, Nijjar was already designated as a terrorist when he was assassinated by some unidentified men outside the gurdwara in the British Columbia town of Surrey in June 2023. India dismissed all allegations made by Trudeau regarding the killing of Nijjar and called it absurd. One of the officials said, “It is silly of Canada as they are now targeting the high commissioner who has been so active and engaging over the last year.”
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