New Delhi: India has denied any “substantive discussion” between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Canadian counterpart Justin Trudeau during a brief exchange in Laos on the sidelines of the ASEAN summits Friday.
According to people familiar with the matter, relations between New Delhi and Ottawa “cannot be repaired” until “strict and verifiable action” is taken by the Canadian government against those who “actively pursue anti-India activities and have conspired to promote hate, disinformation, communal disharmony and violence in India as well as Canada”.
New Delhi expects that anti-India Khalistani activities “will not be allowed to take place on Canadian soil” and that “firm action, which is lacking thus far” will be taken against individuals or groups that continue to advocate “violence, extremism and terrorism” against New Delhi from Canadian territory, said government sources.
At a press conference in Vientiane earlier Friday, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said he held a “brief exchange” with Modi where he “emphasised that there is work that we need to do”.
“The safety of Canadians and upholding the rule of law is one of the fundamental responsibilities of any Canadian government and that is what I will stay focused on…Ensuring public safety was why I shared those credible allegations a year ago and why since then we have been working diligently to do everything we can to keep Canadians safe now and into the future,” added Trudeau.
On 18 September 2023, the Canadian prime minister had told the House of Commons that his government was investigating “credible allegations” of links between Indian officials and the killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, designated as a terrorist by New Delhi.
Nijjar, was gunned down outside a gurdwara in Surrey British Columbia in June 2023. At the time, India had called these allegations “absurd and motivated” and ties between the two countries have been frosty since then.
India urged “parity” in diplomatic representation, which led to Ottawa withdrawing 41 diplomats and their families from the country, while New Delhi temporarily closed its high commission and consulates in Canada due to the threat its diplomats faced in the country.
While its diplomatic missions in Canada have since reopened, ties between Ottawa and New Delhi have yet to recover. Trudeau’s government has not yet shared any actionable evidence with India with regards to the links between its officials and the killing of Nijjar.
Canadian authorities, however, arrested four Indian men and charged them with the killing of Nijjar.
“We are seeing troubling patterns of violence affecting Indo-Canadians right across the country over the past number of months and this is an issue that I can assure you that we continue to be very very seized,” said Trudeau Friday during the press conference in Laos.
According to sources, there is a “growing nexus” between anti-India forces and “organised crime, drug syndicates and human trafficking”, and this should be a “concern for Canada” as well.
This was the second brief meeting between Modi and Trudeau on the margins of an international summit since the allegations were first made by the Canadian prime minister in September 2023. The two previously met briefly on the sidelines of the G7 leaders’ summit in Italy earlier this year.
(Edited by Gitanjali Das)
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