Canada still asking India to cooperate in criminal investigations: Trudeau
- Trudeau says New Delhi refused to cooperate in criminal probe.
- India says it was part of PM Trudeau’s agenda for vote bank.
- India says it reserves the right to take further steps.
OTTAWA: Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has said that his government expelled six Indian diplomats from Canada because New Delhi refused to cooperate in criminal investigations.
The Canadian government presented the evidence to India last week, stressing that its top diplomats were involved in the assassination plots, sources said.
Talking to media on Tuesday, the premier said that Canada is still asking India to cooperate with RCMP probes into violent incidents and coercive behaviour linked to agents of the Indian government.
“The government of India made a fundamental error in thinking that they could engage in supporting criminal activity against Canadians here on Canadian soil, whether it be murders or extortion or other violent acts,” Trudeau told reporters in Ottawa, referring to allegations made by Canadian federal police against Indian intelligence.
India, while withdrawing its envoy to Canada on Monday along with other officials and diplomats, rejected the “preposterous imputations” of the Canadian assertion, made in a diplomatic communication on Sunday, saying it was part of Prime Minister Trudeau’s “political agenda” centred around “vote bank politics”.
The Indian foreign ministry also said it summoned the Canadian Charge d’Affaires on Monday and informed him that the “baseless targeting” of its diplomats and officials in Canada was “completely unacceptable”.
“We have no faith in the current Canadian government’s commitment to ensure their security. Therefore, the Government of India has decided to withdraw the High Commissioner and other targeted diplomats and officials,” it said in a statement.
India also conveyed that it “reserves” the right to take further steps in response to the Canadian government’s “support for extremism, violence against India”, the statement said.
Relations between New Delhi and Ottawa have been frosty since September 2023, when Trudeau said that Canada had credible evidence linking Indian agents to the assassination of a Sikh leader that year, prompting a strong reaction from New Delhi, which denied the allegation.
India has repeatedly said Canada has not shared any evidence to back its claim.
“This latest step follows interactions that have again witnessed assertions without any facts. This leaves little doubt that on the pretext of an investigation, there is a deliberate strategy of smearing India for political gains,” India said earlier on Monday.
Canada pulled out more than 40 diplomats from India in October 2023 after New Delhi asked Ottawa to reduce its diplomatic presence.