Made Nijjar Killing Allegations Public To Deter India: Canadian PM Trudeau, Reveals Talks With Modi During G20 Summit

Justin Trudeau, the Prime Minister of Canada, clarified that his comments made on 18 September in the House of Commons regarding "credible allegations" of Indian agents' involvement in the assassination of pro-Khalistan figure Hardeep Singh Nijjar, were intended to discourage New Delhi from perpetuating such actions within the country.

During a discussion with the Canadian Press, Trudeau expressed, "We believed that the silent diplomacy and all the precautions we, along with our security services, took to ensure community safety required an additional level of deterrence. This could mean publicly and assertively stating that we have credible reasons to suspect the Indian government's involvement in this matter."

He further stated, "Consequently, this could discourage them from persisting or even contemplating such actions in the future." He expressed that the declaration was issued due to the excessive number of Canadians feeling susceptible.

According to the Hindustan Times, Trudeau has hinted that Canada will later disclose the evidence supporting the allegations of India's involvement in Nijjar's murder in Surrey on 18 June.

In response to questions about why Canada has not publicly shared similar information as the US Federal Court's indictment of an Indian national for an alleged plot to murder Sikhs for Justice (SFJ) general counsel Gurpatwant Pannun, Trudeau explained that Canada is conducting a murder investigation with different stakes and processes in its justice system. He confirmed that the situation is still evolving.

India has established a high-level investigation into the accusations made by the United States, while rejecting comparable requests from Ottawa. The country's stance is that the US has supplied specific information, whereas Canada has not.

As articulated by External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, the issue of equal treatment between two countries, one providing inputs and the other not, is not applicable.

Trudeau also mentioned that he brought up the Nijjar matter during his meeting with Indian counterpart Narendra Modi at the G20 summit in New Delhi in September, but the conversation did not yield productive results.

He further leveled accusations against India, stating they initiated an information warfare. He remarked, "They opted to assault and destabilise us through a vast amount of misinformation and disinformation in their media, which was laughable."