Recalled Indian High Commissioner Sanjay Kumar Verma in an exclusive interview to NDTV today minced no words in strongly criticising Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for sheltering Khalistani terrorists and gangs.
India withdrew Mr Verma from Canada after the Trudeau government linked him and some other Indian diplomats to the killing of Khalistani terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar, and named the Indian envoy as a “person of interest” in the case.
“Canada has failed to limit hate speech by Khalistanis against India. Hate speech cannot be encouraged in the name of freedom of speech,” Mr Verma told NDTV.
He said Canada’s inaction against Khalistanis despite India’s repeated requests and information sharing has “emboldened the extremists.”
“The allegations made by the Trudeau government against India are bizarre. We have told them about the links between Goldy Brar and Lawrence Bishnoi. Goldy Brar openly runs extortion rackets in Canada,” Mr Verma told NDTV. “He is the kingpin of all extortion rackets in Canada and some in Punjab,” he added.
“Khalistanis run a business in Canada. They are into extortion. They use the money to live a lavish life and work against India,” he said.
He said India had also strongly objected to Mr Trudeau inviting Khalistanis at events in Canada.
Canada sheltering Khalistanis has a political angle to it, Mr Verma said, alluding to Mr Trudeau’s inaction against the terrorists.
India had slammed Canada for its disrespectful behaviour towards the recalled envoy – India’s senior-most serving diplomat with a distinguished career spanning 36 years. “… The aspersions cast on him by the government of Canada are ludicrous and deserve to be treated with contempt,” the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) had said.
The 2023 murder of Nijjar crashed diplomatic ties between New Delhi and Ottawa after Mr Trudeau said there were “credible allegations” linking Indian intelligence to the crime. India, which had designated Nijjar as a terrorist in 2020, has dismissed the charges as “absurd”.
At the NDTV World Summit in Delhi earlier this week, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar had indicated that there would be some resistance from and churning in the West as India and other emerging economies grow. “It is not going to be smooth,” Mr Jaishankar had said, in what was seen as alluding to Canada’s behaviour towards India.
The West has to accept that changes and a rebalancing is happening in the global order which the West has got used to for a long time, he said.