Amid a row between India and Canada over the killing of Khalistan Tiger Force (KTF) chief Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a “designated” terrorist also associated with the banned group Sikhs For Justice (SFJ), former Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh dismissed the claims of the Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau that there was an Indian hand in the murder.
Mr. Singh said Nijjar’s murder was the result of a factional feud within the management of the Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara situated at Surrey in Canada.
He said Mr. Trudeau had unfortunately “walked into a trap owing to vote bank politics” and put at stake the diplomatic relationship between India and Canada. “It was highly irresponsible for the Prime Minister of a country to make a statement without any evidence only because he was playing to the vote bank gallery,” he said.
He said it was an “irrefutable fact” that the Trudeau administration in Canada had “given a free hand to anti-India forces” in that country. He said Indian missions there were attacked and diplomats intimidated but there was no corrective action by the Canadian government.
“Has the Canadian government taken any action against the culprits who attacked Indian missions there?” he asked, while adding, Mr. Trudeau by levelling such allegations was only trying to deflect the attention from his own failures to curb anti-India activities in that country.
Meanwhile, Harjinder Singh Dhami, President of the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC), the body responsible for the management of Gurdwaras, in a statement, said that given the existence of Sikhs in the whole world today, “both Canada and India need to join hands,” so that the truth can come out in case of accusations and the relations between the two countries also remain good.
Separately, radical outfit Dal Khasla in a statement termed the step by Canada as “bold and justified”.
Nijjar, 45, was wanted by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in four cases. He was declared a terrorist under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) in July 2020 through a Ministry of Home Affairs notification. He was shot dead outside a Sikh temple on June 18 in Surrey, a Vancouver suburb with a large Sikh population.
Published - September 19, 2023 09:52 pm IST
