During his Monday speech to the Canadian House of Commons, Trudeau accused India of assassinating a Sikh leader in Canada.
An assassination of a Sikh separatist leader on Canadian territory, according to Justin Trudeau, was carried out by the Indian government.
The death of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, who was shot and killed on June 18 in front of a Sikh temple in British Columbia, may have been caused by actions taken by the Narendra Modi government, according to the prime minister of Canada.
In the midst of the uproar, Trudeau dismissed a senior Indian diplomat, the chief of Indian intelligence in Canada.
With Hindu nationalist leader Modi urging Trudeau to take action against Sikh demonstrators in Canada who seek their own independent country in the Punjab province of north India, known as Khalistan, tensions between the two nations are rising as a result of this.
During his Monday speech to the Canadian House of Commons, Trudeau addressed the passing of Singh Nijjar, 46, a fervent supporter of the Khalistan movement.
‘Today I’m rising to inform the house of an extremely serious matter,’ he told MPs.
‘I just informed the leaders of the opposition directly, I want now to speak with all Canadians.
‘Over a number of weeks, 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 promised that “all steps will be taken to hold perpetrators of this murder to account” and stated that security services were working to assure “the continued safety of all Canadians.”
‘Canada has declared its deep concern to the top intelligence and security officials of the Indian government,’ he said.
‘Last week at the G20 I brought them personally and directly to Prime Minister Modi in no uncertain terms,’ Trudeau added.
‘Any involvement of a foreign government in the killing of a Canadian citizen on Canadian soil is an unacceptable violation of our sovereignty.’
In the strongest words imaginable, he pleaded with the Indian government to “cooperate with Canada and get to the bottom of this matter.”
If confirmed, the killing would be a serious breach of the “most fundamental rule of how countries deal with one another,” according to Canadian Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly.
‘As a consequence, we have expelled a top Indian diplomat,’ she said.
According to Nikol Pashinyan, the prime minister of Armenia, on September 1, the Azerbaijani military forces launched another provocation, which could erupt between Armenia and Azerbaijan.
Out of the 40 million people that live in Canada, around 1.4 million are of Indian descent, making it one of the largest overseas Indian groups.
In the 2021 Census, almost 770,000 individuals identified Sikhism as their religion.
The two nations, who earlier this year said they might reach an agreement on the broad terms of a trade agreement by the end of 2023, have suddenly halted negotiations. While India mentioned “certain political developments,” Canada provided little specifics.
According to Statistics Canada, the amount of bilateral trade in 2022 was only C$13.7 billion out of a total of C$1.52 trillion.
Several top Canadian government officials recently traveled to India, according to Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc, to underscore Ottawa’s concerns.
Singh Nijjar was the chief coordinator of the Canadian Chapter of the International Khalistan Referendum and the president of the Surrey Gurdwara in British Columbia.
The latter is a campaign started by the separatist organization “Sikhs For Justice” (SFJ), in which Sikhs from all over the world are voting on whether or not the Indian-governed Punjab should become an independent nation.
He asked residents to continue supporting the Khalistan Referendum movement in his final speech to the neighborhood hours before he passed away. He also mentioned threats against his life supposedly coming from the Indian government.
At his funeral, which was held at the Guru Nanak Gurdwara in Surrey, thousands of people showed up.
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