Trudeau admits Canada had ‘intel, not hard proof’ against India in Nijjar killing

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Wednesday admitted that his government didn’t provide India with real proof over the killing of Khalistani terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar on Canadian soil.

Trudeau, who testified before the country’s foreign interference inquiry, said Canada only provided intelligence and no proof before publicly accusing India of killing Nijjar. “Canada asked India to cooperate. Their (India) ask was for proof. We asked for Indian security agencies to investigate further and cooperate with us. Because at that point what we (Canada) had was intelligence,” Trudeau said.

“I brought this up with Modi at the end of the G20 and I shared that we knew India was involved. He brought up that many people in Canada speak against the Indian government, and he wanted to see these people arrested,” he added.

Trudeau said when he returned to Canada from India after the G20 Summit, “it was clear that the Indian government’s approach was to criticise us and the integrity of our democracy”.

Trudeau appeared before the committee after Ottawa’s latest charge that Indian diplomats were involved in collecting information and using criminal gangs for targeting members of pro-Khalistan movement in Canada.

Trudeau reiterated his claim before the committee that there was “credible evidence” that Indian agents were involved in the killing of Nijjar.

He also named gangster Lawrence Bishnoi, who was earlier mentioned by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) for being involved in the murder of Nijjar. Trudeau alleged that Indian diplomats were collecting information on Canadians and passing to the Lawrence Bishnoi gang.

After Canada made charges against the Indian diplomats on Monday morning, the Ministry of External Affairs released a scathing statement, saying that Canada did not share a “shred of evidence of India’s involvement in Nijjar’s killing” despite repeated requests and accused Trudeau of doing vote bank politics and not doing enough to tackle separatist elements on Canadian soil.

The ongoing diplomatic row escalated with New Delhi recalling its top envoy to Ottawa and expelling six Canadian diplomats from the country on late Monday evening.