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India rejected repeated “off ramps” to avoiding a diplomatic crisis after intelligence linked it to the Hardeep Singh Nijjar murder in B.C., Prime Minister Justin Trudeau testified on Wednesday.
Rather than cooperating with Canada’s investigations into the role of its intelligence services in the assassination, India instead pushed back, Trudeau told the foreign interference inquiry.
“Their response was to double down and attack Canada rather than take responsibility or say, ‘How can we fix this? Yes, this was a violation of the rule of law,’” Trudeau said.
Trudeau said Canada had initially briefed India’s prime minister, Narendra Modi, about the allegations in late July or early August, but instead of taking action, India’s response was to lash out at Canada.
“He responded with the usual response from him, which is that we have people who are outspoken against the Indian government living in Canada that he would like to see arrested,” Trudeau said.
Trudeau said he attempted to explain to Modi that freedom of speech and the right to criticize governments overseas was a fundamental right in Canada, but was met with opposition.
“And that is a question that actually we have been repeatedly asking the government of India to assist us on, and to get to the bottom of, the question of whether it is or could be, rogue elements within the government or whether it was a more, systemic, systematic, effort, for the government of India,” Trudeau said.
Canadian investigators were “somewhat removed from being able to uncover the internal machinations of the Indian government, of who went wrong or who did this or who did that,” he said.
“That’s why from the very beginning, we have been asking for India, the Indian government to take these allegations seriously and proceed with their own investigations and work with us on figuring out exactly how these egregious violations of Canadian sovereignty, actually happened,” Trudeau said.
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This was a situation in which we had clear, and certainly now even clearer, indications that India had violated Canada’s sovereignty, and their response was to double down and attack Canada further.
Canadian officials made another effort to secure India’s cooperation, asking it to lift immunity on six diplomats identified as “persons of interest” in investigations. India declined, launching a broadside against Trudeau, who said he was standing up for Canadian security and sovereignty.
Agents based at India’s high commission in Ottawa and consulates in Vancouver and Toronto had been denying visas to Canadians who needed to travel to India to coerce them into spying, sources said. Cash payments were also used to recruit informants. The information they gathered was relayed back to India’s intelligence services, who used it to plan attacks on Modi’s opponents.
Indian intelligence contracted organized crime groups such as the Lawrence Bishnoi gang to carry out the attacks in Canada, which targeted mostly activists in the Khalistan movement that champions independence for the Sikh-majority Punjab. Global News reported Tuesday police have evidence the operation was approved by Modi’s right-hand man, Amit Shah, the hardline Hindu nationalist who serves as India’s Home Minister.
Fact-checking questions:
Q: Was India involved in the assassination of Hardeep Singh Nijjar in B.C.?
A: According to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, the answer is yes.
Q: Did India try to cover up the links between its intelligence services and the assassination?
A: Yes, according to Trudeau, India’s response was to attack Canada and deny any involvement.
Q: Did India’s government use covert agents in Canada to attack Modi’s opponents?
A: Yes, according to sources, India’s intelligence services used agents based in Ottawa and Toronto to plan and carry out attacks on opponents of Modi’s government in India.
Q: Was the Indian government complicit in the violence in Canada?
A: According to Trudeau, the answer is yes, and there is evidence to support this claim.
Q: Did India’s Home Minister, Amit Shah, approve the violence in Canada?
A: According to Global News, yes, he did.
Q: Did India deny visas to Canadians needed to travel to India to coerce them into spying?
A: Yes, according to sources, India’s agents used cash payments to recruit informants who would gather information for India’s intelligence services.
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