New Delhi: Sri Lanka has come to India’s defence amid its diplomatic spat with Canada over Ottawa’s investigation into “allegations about potential links” between “Indian agents” and the killing of Sikh extremist Hardeep Singh Nijjar on Canadian territory this June.
Asked about the diplomatic row, Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Ali Sabry said the allegations against India are “outrageous and unsubstantiated”.
He was addressing the media in New York on the sidelines of the 78th United Nations General Assembly session. His comments came days after the Bangladesh foreign minister defended India against the Canadian allegations.
“Some of the terrorists have found safe haven in Canada. The Canadian PM has this way of just coming out with some outrageous allegations without any supporting proof,” Sabry said. “The same thing they did for Sri Lanka, a terrible, total lie about saying that Sri Lanka had a genocide. Everybody knows there was no genocide in our country,” he added.
Canada refers to the Sri Lankan civil war (1983-2009) as a “genocide”. On 18 May, Canadian PM Justin Trudeau marked the “first Tamil Genocide Remembrance Day” in his country. This received a sharp response from Colombo.
Sabry also commented on the Canadian parliament last week honouring a Ukrainian military veteran who fought for the Nazis.
“I saw yesterday he had gone and given a rousing welcome to somebody who has associated with the Nazis in the past during the Second World War. So, this is questionable and we have dealt with it in the past. I am not surprised that sometimes PM Trudeau comes out with outrageous and unsubstantiated allegations.”
The Ukrainian soldier was honoured during Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s visit to Canada, reportedly at the speaker’s initiative. The episode was later dubbed “embarrassing” by Trudeau.
Sabry’s comments came hours after the outgoing Sri Lankan High Commissioner to India voiced support for New Delhi, calling its response to the allegation “firm and direct”.
Addressing a press conference in New Delhi, High Commissioner Milinda Moragoda said: “I think India’s response has been inequitable and also firm and direct. And I think as far as we are concerned, we support India on that.”
“Our position on these matters, I think, is very clear because we have endured and we have suffered. And as a country that has gone through that tolerance for terrorism is zero,” he added.
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‘Sad episode’
Last week, Bangladesh Foreign Minister A.B. Abdul Momen called the India-Canada diplomatic spat a “sad episode”.
Speaking on the sidelines of the UNGA session, Momen defended India, saying it is not a country known for “immature things”. “So this is a sad episode. I hope this would end amicably,” he added.
Nijjar, a designated terrorist in India, was shot dead outside a gurdwara in Surrey, British Columbia, in June.
(Edited by Sunanda Ranjan)
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