"Fundamental error": Trudeau accuses India of supporting criminal activities in Canada amid diplomatic row

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Pic/AFP

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Monday accused the Indian government of making a "fundamental error" by supporting criminal activities in Canada. Speaking at a press conference in Ottawa, Trudeau highlighted ongoing tensions between the two nations and stressed the importance of an upcoming meeting between their national security advisors, scheduled for this weekend in Singapore.

"When I spoke to PM Modi at the end of last week, I highlighted how incredibly important meeting between our national security advisors in Singapore this weekend was going to be. He was aware of that meeting and I pressed upon him that the meeting needs to be taken very, very seriously," Trudeau said. Canadian Minister of Public Safety and Intergovernmental Affairs Dominic LeBlanc and Minister of Foreign Affairs Melanie Joly were also present during the press conference.

Trudeau further spoke about the broader implications for Canada-India relations, alleging that the Indian government had made a "fundamental error" by supporting criminal activities against Canadians. "The Indian government made a fundamental error in thinking that they could engage in supporting criminal activities against Canadians, here on Canadian soil, be it murder or extortion. This is absolutely unacceptable," Trudeau claimed. Trudeau claimed that Canada is commitment to working with India despite the tensions.

"This is not a choice that Canada made to create a chill in Canada-India relations. India is an important democracy, a country with which we have deep historical people-to-people business ties at a time where the instability around geopolitics means democracies have to stick together. That is why when we started to understand through intelligence agencies that India was possibly if not probably, behind (Hardeep Singh) Nijjar's killing, the killing of a Canadian on Canadian soil last summer, our first choice to the government of India to say, we know this has happened, work with us to fix this," he claimed. "We don't want to be having this fight, but obviously the killing of a Canadian on Canadian soil is not something that we can ignore as a country," he added.

Trudeau further said that Canada had taken a transparent approach and sought cooperation with Indian authorities. "So every step of the way we have apprised India of what we know. I've spoken directly with Prime Minister Modi. We have engaged with intelligence counterparts, and unfortunately, every step of the way, both after I made the statement in the House of Commons last September and till now, the response of the Indian government has been to deny, to obfuscate, to attack me personally and the integrity of the government of Canada and its officials and its police agencies," he said. He further claimed that Canada had made efforts to collaborate with India to ensure the safety of Canadians. Trudeau further said Canadian authorities had attempted to work with India to ensure the safety of Canadians.

"We have simply said we're going to allow our agencies to do the work, particularly to move from intelligence collection from agencies to police investigations that result in arrests, trials and consequences within a rigorous robust and independent judicial system. That has been our approach every step of the way. Indeed, over this past week, when the RCMP reached out to its law enforcement counterparts in India, there was a path where we could have worked together to ensure accountability and changes and steps that would have resulted in keeping Canadians safe because that is our top priority," he said. However, Trudeau said these efforts were rebuffed by India.

"The Indian government rejected those advances and rejected our attempts to find some way through this. And that brought us to this point of having to disrupt the chain of operations that go from Indian diplomats here in Canada to criminal organisations to direct violent impacts on Canadians right across this country," he added.

The diplomatic fallout comes after allegations by Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) Commissioner Mike Duheme, who claimed they have information on certain criminal activity carried out by agents of the Indian government. 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.

This move came reportedly after Canada expelled six Indian diplomats after police collected evidence they were part of an Indian government "campaign of violence," news agency Reuters reported citing a Canadian government source earlier. Earlier, on Monday India "strongly" rejected a diplomatic communication from Canada suggesting that the Indian High Commissioner and other diplomats were "persons of interest" in an investigation and termed it as "preposterous imputations" and part of the political agenda of the Justin Trudeau government.

In a hard-hitting statement, India said Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau's hostility to India has long been in evidence and his government has consciously provided space to violent extremists and terrorists "to harass, threaten and intimidate Indian diplomats and community leaders in Canada." The ties between India and Canada soured after Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, in a parliamentary address last year, claimed that he has "credible allegations" of India's hand in the killing of Khalistani terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar.

Nijjar, designated a terrorist by India's National Investigation Agency in 2020, was shot dead outside a gurdwara in Surrey in June 2023. India strongly denied the allegations, calling them "absurd" and "motivated." It also accused Canada of giving space to extremist and anti-India elements in their country.

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