‘Trudeau government withholding details on terrorist’s killing’: Canadian lawmaker

Amid the India-Canada diplomatic row, the premier of British Colombia, David Eby, has said he “strongly” suspected.

The Justin Trudeau-led government is holding back information that could help the province protect crucial information about Khalistani terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar’s killing.

Nijjar, the chief of the banned Khalistan Tiger Force (KTF), was shot dead outside a gurdwara by two unknown assailants in Surrey, British Colombia, in June. “There has not been good information sharing,” Eby said, adding Ottawa wants to make sure the province had the details it needed to keep its residents safe.

On Friday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said that his country shared the “credible allegations” that India’s government may have been involved in the killing of Nijjar “weeks ago”, Canada’s Global News reported.

“Canada has shared the credible allegations — that I talked about on Monday — with India. We did that many weeks ago. We are there to work constructively with India. We hope that they engage with us so we can get to the bottom of this in a very serious manner,” said Trudeau.

David Eby said everything he knew about Nijjar’s killing was “in the public realm”. This, Eby said, came despite a briefing with the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) director. “I understand there may need to be reform around the act that governs CSIS in order for them to be able to share this information,” Eby told the media.

“If that’s what’s required, let’s make it happen because the only way that we are going to make traction on this is by the federal government trusting the provincial government with information, and being able to act on it in our local communities,” he added.

INDIA REACHES OUT TO WESTERN PARTNERS
Meanwhile, India has apprised its key Western partners and friends about its concerns over increasing activities of anti-India elements from Canadian soil, sources told news agency PTI.

Separately, External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said Canada had not provided to India any specific information on the case relating to the killing of Nijjar.

“No specific information has been shared (with us) by Canada in this case. We are willing to look at any specific information that is provided to us (in this case),” he said at a media briefing.

Ties between India and Canada came under severe strain following Trudeau’s allegations of a “potential” involvement of Indian agents in the killing of Nijjar on Canadian soil.

India on Tuesday rejected the allegations as “absurd” and “motivated” and expelled a senior Canadian diplomat in a tit-for-tat move to Ottawa’s expulsion of an Indian official over the case.