India denies Canadian news report alleging PM Modi knew of plot to kill Khalistan separatist
‘Smear campaigns like this only further damage our already strained ties,’ said External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal.
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Amid strained diplomatic ties, India on Wednesday dismissed a Canadian news report claiming that Prime Minister Narendra Modi was aware of the alleged plot to kill Khalistan separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar.
External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said that the news report is part of a “smear campaign”.
Nijjar was killed by masked gunmen near Canada’s Vancouver in June 2023. He was a supporter of Khalistan, a separate homeland for Sikhs sought by some groups. He was the head of the Khalistan Tiger Force, which is designated a terrorist outfit in India.
In September 2023, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told his country’s parliament that intelligence agencies were actively pursuing “credible allegations” tying agents of the Indian government to Nijjar’s killing.
On Wednesday, The Globe and Mail quoted an unidentified national security official in Canada as saying that security agencies in the North American country believed Modi “knew about the killing of a Sikh separatist leader [referring to Nijjar] in British Columbia and other violent plots”.
Intelligence agencies in Canada and the United States tied the assassination operations to Union Home Minister Amit Shah, the unidentified official told the Canadian newspaper, adding that National Security Adviser Ajit Doval and External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar were also in the loop.
“We do not normally comment on media...
