MEA hits back after Justin Trudeau admits Canada had ‘no hard evidence’ linking India to Hardeep Nijjar’s murder | Latest news India

The Foreign Ministry reaffirmed its position in a late night statement after Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau testified before a commission of inquiry amid a huge diplomatic row. The MEA said Thursday that what it has heard only “confirms” New Delhi’s consistent position that Canada “has not provided us with evidence” to support the serious allegations Canada has made against India and Indian diplomats.

Justin Trudeau acknowledged he had no “hard evidence” and only intelligence when Canada alleged the involvement of Indian government agents in the killing of Khalistani separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar last year. Justin Trudeau said on Wednesday there was “clear evidence” that India had committed human rights abuses. Canadian sovereignty.

MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal, in response to media questions regarding Justin Trudeau’s statement, said: “What we heard today only confirms what we have consistently said all along – Canada has not provided us with any evidence to support the serious allegations that it has chosen to act against India and Indian diplomats.”

The ministry further said, “The responsibility for the damage this arrogant behavior has caused to India-Canada relations lies solely with Prime Minister Trudeau.”

Testifying before the public inquiry into foreign interference in federal election processes and democratic institutions, Justin Trudeau also alleged that the Indian diplomats gathered information about Canadians who disagreed with Narendra Modi’s government and passed it on to the highest levels of the Indian government and criminal organizations. organizations such as the Lawrence Bishnoi gang.

India has strongly rejected attempts by Canadian authorities to link Indian officers to criminal gangs in Canada. Official sources in New Delhi told news agency PTI that Ottawa’s claim that it shared evidence with New Delhi in the Hardeep Singh Nijjar case was simply not true.

India expels six Canadian diplomats

India earlier on Monday expelled six Canadian diplomats and also announced it would withdraw its high commissioner from Canada after rejecting Ottawa’s allegations linking the envoy to an investigation into Nijjar’s killing.

The escalation of the diplomatic row between India and Canada is a major downturn in the already frosty relations between the two nations.

Ties between the two countries came under severe strain following Justin Trudeau’s allegations in September last year of a “potential” involvement of Indian agents in Nijjar’s murder.

India has strongly rejected the Canadian Prime Minister’s allegations as “absurd”.

India has maintained that the main issue between the two countries is Canada’s giving space to pro-Khalistan elements operating with impunity from Canadian soil.

Nijjar, who was declared a terrorist by India, was shot dead outside a gurdwara in Surrey, British Columbia, on June 18 last year.