Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said today that India made a “huge mistake” by deciding to “attack Canadians” at a time when both Delhi and Ottawa expelled each other's diplomats, reported AFP.
The statement comes after Canadian federal police said they have a significant amount of information about the “involvement of agents of the Government of India in serious criminal activity in Canada,” including the killing of a Sikh separatist leader.
„I think India made a huge mistake by choosing to use its diplomats and organized crime to attack Canadians,” said the Canadian prime minister, calling these “acts of violence” and “murders” as “unacceptable“.
„We will never tolerate a foreign government threatening and killing Canadian citizens on Canadian soil, which is a deeply unacceptable violation of Canadian sovereignty and international law,” he added, underscoring Delhi's repeated refusal to cooperate.
The killing of Canadian citizen Hardeep Singh Nijar, who campaigned for an independent Sikh state in northern India called Khalistan, has soured relations between the two countries, and Trudeau said there were “credible allegations” linking Indian intelligence to the crime .
As a result, yesterday Canada expelled six Indian diplomats, including the ambassador in Ottawa, on suspicion of involvement in the “Nijar” case. India reacted quickly by “deciding to expel“ the Canadian chargé d'affaires in Delhi, his deputy and four other diplomats, ordering them to leave the country by midnight on Sunday, October 20, AFP recalls.