The two leaders had a 40-minute long meeting in Amritsar, where they agreed to cooperate and crack down on violent Khalistani separatists.
Chandigarh: Wednesday’s 40 minute-long meeting between Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh in Amritsar is expected to end the year-long simmering tension over allegations that the Canadian government is allowing the Khalistani separatist movement to spread from its soil.
A statement issued by the chief minister’s office following the meeting said that Trudeau had assured that his country “did not support any separatist movement in India” or elsewhere. The CMO described the assurance given by the Canadian PM as “categorical”.
What transpired at the meeting?
Sources who were part of Amarinder Singh’s official team said Punjab had prepared for some “straight talk” with the Canadian PM. The intelligence wing went to the meeting equipped with hard facts, including operational details of incidents of crimes in Punjab which could be traced directly to Sikh hardliners settled in Canada.
The CM handed over to Trudeau a list of nine ‘Category A’ Canada-based operatives alleged to be involved in hate crimes in Punjab by financing and supplying weapons for terrorist activities, and also engaged in trying to radicalise the young generation in Punjab.
“These details, many of which are not even in the public domain, were shared with PM Trudeau, who listened to everything carefully and absorbed them fully. He is dead against violence of any kind, and that is the point which we have tried to emphasise,” a senior officer who was a part of the CM’s team told ThePrint.
“He was informed that some separatists based in Canada have been actively working towards destabilising Punjab, disturbing law and order, including acts which could spread communal tensions.”
Citing the separatist movement in the French-speaking Canadian province of Quebec, Trudeau said he had dealt with such threats all his life and was fully aware of the dangers of violence, which he had always pushed back with all his might.
“He and the CM hit it off immediately, and the meeting went off much better than expected. The PM of Canada comes across as someone who is earnest and sincere. His values-and-beliefs system is not a political façade,” said the officer, hoping that something substantial will come out of the state sharing operational details of Canadian Sikh separatists involved in crimes.
Four-point agreement
The two leaders are said to have agreed upon the following four points:
1. The section of Sikhs demanding a separate Khalistan to be carved out of Punjab, referred to as separatists, are a fringe element both in Canada and Punjab. They do not constitute the main chunk of the Sikh population either in Canada or in Punjab.
2. Both countries are multicultural diversities, and keeping in line with democratic principles, allow enough freedom of speech where anyone could voice separatist demands through peaceful means. Amarinder, however pointed out that people fighting elections on the plank of a separate Sikh state had lost badly, showing that the people of Punjab soundly rejected their ideas.
3. Incitement or involvement in violence of any kind, including hate crimes as a means to the separatists’ end, is unacceptable to both countries.
4. The two countries can actively cooperate in cracking down on separatism and hate crimes by this fringe element.
Sources added that the issue of Trudeau’s party and government colleagues as well as other politicians in Canada attending events and parades organised by Sikh separatists was not discussed. “It is understood that politicians have to go to all the events they are invited to. That is not a point of quarrel,” said the officer.
The issue of some gurudwaras in Canada having banned entry of Indian officials was also not taken up. “That is for the government of India to discuss with Canada,” added the officer.
Other issues discussed
This was the first time any Punjab Chief Minister met the Prime Minister of Canada. Canada’s Hoshiarpur-born defence minister Harjit Singh Sajjan, who has faced allegations of being a Khalistani sympathiser, and Punjab local government minister Navjot Singh Sidhu were also present at the meeting.
The one-to-one meeting was sought by the CMO through the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), and after what seemed like disinterest, Sajjan suggested that a meeting take place.
Amarinder Singh sought a student exchange programme as well as MoUs with universities and other institutions of learning, and regretted that the agreement signed with University of Saskatchewan had failed to materialise. He suggested that Canada could aid in promoting emigration of trained Punjabi youth to Canada.
The CM urged the Canadian government to support his government’s ‘Connect with Your Roots’, initiative to facilitate youth from the Punjabi diaspora in Canada to come and see Punjab.
No more strained relations?
The two leaders met after Trudeau’s visit to the Golden Temple Wednesday, as part of his eight-day state visit to India. Trudeau is set to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi Friday.
Trudeau’s visit to India began on 17 February with a muted response from the government of India. It was widely believed that he was being snubbed for his government’s attitude towards Sikh separatists.
Relations between Punjab and Canada had got strained after Amarinder was refused permission by the Canadian government to speak to the Sikh diaspora when he was to visit Canada as the state’s leader of the opposition in 2016.