“Credible allegations of potential link”: Canadian PM Trudeau accuses India of being behind killing of Khalistani leader

Nijjar, who was wanted in India, was gunned down outside a gurdwara, in a parking area in Canada's Surrey, BC on June 18.

Months after Khalistan Tiger Force chief Hardeep Singh Nijjar was shot dead in Canada, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Monday accused the Indian government of being behind this fatal shooting, an ANI report said.
Nijjar, who was wanted in India, was gunned down outside a gurdwara, in a parking area in Canada’s Surrey, BC on June 18.
Hailing from Bharsinghpur village in Punjab’s Jalandhar, Nijjar was based in Surrey and had been declared “absconder” by the National Investigation Agency (NIA).
According to ANI citing CBC News, Canada, PM Trudeau said his country’s national security officials had reasons to believe that “agents of the Indian government” carried out the killing of the Canadian citizen, who also served as the president of Surrey’s Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara.
“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.
He stressed that the involvement of a foreign hand or government in the killing of a Canadian citizen in Canada was unacceptable.
“Any involvement of a foreign government in the killing of a Canadian citizen on Canadian soil is an unacceptable violation of our sovereignty. It is contrary to the fundamental rules by which free, open, and democratic societies conduct themselves,” Trudeau added.
He informed further that he was coordinating with Canadian allies on this issue.
“As you would expect, we have been working closely and coordinating with our allies on this very serious matter,” he said.
Trudeau also urged the Indian government to “cooperate with Canada to get to the bottom of this matter”, CBC News reported.
He claimed that some Indo-Canadians were “angry” and “perhaps frightened right now”, adding, “Let us not allow this to change us”.
Earlier, the NIA in July, last year, announced a cash reward of Rs 10 lakh on Nirjar in connection with the killing of a Hindu priest in Jalandhar.
“Hardeep Singh Nijjar is wanted by the National Investigation Agency in NIA case in the conspiracy hatched by Khalistan Tiger Force (KTF) operating under Nijjar, to kill a Hindu priest at Jalandhar,” the NIA had said in a release.
Signalling a further souring of bilateral ties, Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Joly on Monday said an Indian diplomat in the country had been expelled, ANI reported citing Al Jazeera.
The expulsion comes in light of PM Justin Trudeau’s statement alleging an Indian hand in the killing of wanted Khalistani leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar.
However, Joly did not provide any further details on the diplomat’s name or the place from where he was expelled, according to the report.
(ANI)

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