New Delhi [India], October 17 (ANI): Amid the escalating diplomatic row between India and Canada, Congress leader Pawan Khera on Thursday said that the opposition will stand with the government and speak in one voice, adding that no country had ever dared to put such grave accusations on India.
“No country had ever dared to put such grave accusations on India. This is unprecedented and we will not tolerate it. When it comes to matters of foreign policy and national security, the opposition will stand with the government and speak in one voice. The government needs to ensure this by taking the opposition and the LoP into confidence by briefing about the happenings,” Khera told ANI.
Notably, Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Wednesday 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 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.”(ANI)
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