Canadian journalist Daniel Bordman called Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s recent statement acknowledging that the evidence is intelligence-based rather than concrete on the Khalistan issue as a major win for the Indian narrative.
While speaking with ANI, Bordman said, “This is a pretty big win for the Indian narrative right now… From the Canadian perspective, we had gone pretty hard. We had gone to the point where we had kicked out a diplomat… We had named the Indian High Commission. We started this publicly…”
The Canadian journalist further pointed out that the diplomatic spat between India and Canada centers around whether Hardeep Singh Nijjar a Khalistani terrorist or a community activist.
“On the geopolitical technicality aspect, India wins here because you never said you had evidence. But what does it change from the grand structures of things? Ultimately, the diplomatic spat is really about the unanswered question, was Hardeep Singh Nijjar a Khalistani terrorist or a community activist? And that general disagreement has not moved,” Bordman added.
Bordman also criticised Trudeau’s “Canada’s position has always been to defend the territorial integrity of India” statement and said that his actions don’t align with his words.
“Trudeau says things and then Trudeau does things. Often times, what Trudeau says he is doing does not match with the reality of what he is doing. He might claim that he is against Khalistani separatism but he would also promote Khalistani separatism. Don’t think it is outlandish to assume that he is being untruthful when he says he is doing something when he is not doing that thing. This is a common Justin Trudeau thing which leads back to his scandals and unpopularity…,” Bordman said.
Notably, Trudeau on Wednesday had said that his government had not provided India with hard evidence but just intelligence regarding the killing of Khalistani terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar on Canadian soil.
Testifying at Canada’s foreign interference inquiry, Trudeau said India has been insisting on evidence over allegations levelled by Canada.
“Behind the scenes (were trying) India to co-operate with us. Their ask was…give us the evidence you have on us. Our response was it is within your security agency. You should be looking into how much they know, you should be engaging… ‘No, no but show us the evidence’. At that point, it was primarily intelligence, not hard evidentiary proof. So we said let’s work together…,” he said.
Meanwhile, responding to Trudeau’s statement, the Ministry of External Affairs said that Justin Trudeau “only confirms” what India has been saying “consistently all along.”
The MEA also held Trudeau’s “cavalier behaviour” responsible for damaging India-Canada relations.”What we have heard today only confirms what we have been saying consistently all along – Canada has presented us no evidence whatsoever in support of the serious allegations that it has chosen to level against India and Indian diplomats,” said MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal in an official statement early morning in response to Trudeau’s comment on Wednesday.
“The responsibility for the damage that this cavalier behaviour has caused to India-Canada relations lies with Prime Minister Trudeau alone,” Jaiswal added.
The ties between India and Canada soured after Trudeau alleged in the Canadian Parliament last year that he has “credible allegations” of India’s hand in the killing of Khalistani terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar.India has denied all the allegations, calling them “absurd” and “motivated” and has accused Canada of giving space to extremist and anti-India elements in their country.
Nijjar, who was designated a terrorist by India’s National Investigation Agency in 2020, was shot and killed outside a Gurdwara in Surrey in June last year.
The recent diplomatic row erupted when Canada labelled India’s High Commissioner and other diplomats as “persons of interest” in the investigation of Nijjar’s death.
India on Monday expelled six Canadian diplomats hours after it summoned Canada’s Charge d’Affaires Stewart Wheeler and conveyed that the “baseless targeting” of the Indian High Commissioner and other diplomats and officials in Canada was completely unacceptable.
MEA said earlier that it was underlined to the Canada’s Charge d’Affaires that in an atmosphere of extremism and violence, the Trudeau Government’s actions endangered their safety and the government had decided to withdraw India’s High Commissioner to Canada Sanjay Kumar Verma and other targeted diplomats and officials.
The Indian government conveyed that India reserves the right to take further steps in response to the “Trudeau Government’s support for extremism, violence and separatism against India.”
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