India’s envoy to Canada accuses Justin Trudeau of destroying bilateral ties
Ottawa’s allegations that the Indian government was involved in the killing of a Sikh separatist were ‘politically motivated’, Sanjay Kumar Verma said.
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Outgoing Indian High Commissioner to Canada Sanjay Kumar Verma on Sunday accused Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of “destroying” the relationship between the two countries, CTV News reported.
This came amid recently heightened diplomatic tensions between New Delhi and Ottawa.
In an interview to the Canadian television network, Verma also denied being involved in the killing of Sikh separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar in the North American country. He said that Ottawa’s allegations of Indian government agents orchestrating the killing were “politically motivated”.
On October 14, the Indian government said it was withdrawing Verma and some other diplomats from Canada. It also announced that it had expelled six Canadian diplomats. Ottawa also said it had expelled six Indian diplomats, but Delhi maintained that they had been withdrawn before the Canadian government’s decision.
This came after New Delhi rejected a diplomatic communication from Canada naming Verma and other Indian envoys as “persons of interest” in an investigation in the country. While it was unclear which investigation Ottawa was referring to, reports said that it was related to the June 2023 murder of Nijjar.
On Sunday, Verma noted that Trudeau’s claims about Nijjar’s killing were based on intelligence inputs and not on “hard evidentiary proof”.
On October 16, the Canadian prime minister said that he had intelligence but no “hard evidentiary proof” when he first went public...
