Canada
Trudeau accuses India of murder of citizen
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau during question time in the House of Commons. photo
© Sean Kilpatrick/Canadian Press via ZUMA Press/dpa
A Canadian citizen and supporter of the so-called Khalistan movement is murdered in Canada. The authorities there believe that the crime could be linked to “agents of the Indian government”.
Nijjar, a well-known supporter of an independent Sikh state on Indian territory, was shot dead in June outside a Sikh cultural center in Surrey, British Columbia, Canada.
Modi is hostile to movement
There are many people of Indian origin living in Canada. A particularly large number of them belong to the Sikh religious community. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently expressed his opposition to the so-called Khalistan movement, to which Nijjar was a member, on the sidelines of the G20 summit in New Delhi without directly being named. This promoted secessionism and incited violence against Indian diplomats, Modi said, according to his office.
“Every step must be taken to bring the perpetrators of this murder to justice,” Trudeau continued. Ottawa has expressed deep concern to senior intelligence and security circles in the Indian government.
At the G20 summit, he also spoke directly to Modi about the incident. “I continue to urge the Indian government to work with Canada to get to the bottom of this matter,” Trudeau said. The Canadian Foreign Ministry announced the expulsion of a senior Indian diplomat.