Team Blitz India
HIGH Commissioner Sanjay Kumar Verma has termed the allegations levelled by Ottawa as “politically motivated” with no evidence whatsoever presented by the Canadian government of India’s alleged involvement in last year’s killing of Khalistani separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar.
In his first reaction after being withdrawn by New Delhi following Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s continued “hostility” towards India, he told Canada’s CTV ahead of his departure from the country, “Nothing at all. No evidence was presented. Politically motivated.”
Earlier this week, India decided to withdraw its High Commissioner and “other targeted diplomats and officials” from Canada after the Trudeau government – in what was termed as “preposterous imputations” by New Delhi – suggested that the Indian High Commissioner and other diplomats are ‘persons of interest’ in a matter related to an investigation in the country.
“If Mr. Trudeau or his colleagues know about it, is it not a crime not to file a charge sheet? Is it not a crime not to go by the judicial process? On what basis do they want to question me… If you are a defendant, for example, which I am not, then you would be shared with evidence and that happens even if you are caught for a petty crime. If I’m going for an interrogation, I need to know what I am interrogated for. I need to know what evidence you have so I go prepared,” Verma said. Verma made it clear that the Indian Government has “never” targeted individuals with the intent of causing their death.
New Delhi has been asserting for a long time that the Trudeau government has “consciously provided” space to violent extremists and terrorists to harass, threaten and intimidate Indian diplomats and community leaders in Canada. “The first point is show me the evidence and I have been talking about it from the very first day… Also, do we want to know what the Khalistani elements are doing in Canada. Yes, that we have to know. It is our national interest and the core concern with Canada which is trying to tore up the Indian territory. So, if the Canadian politicians are so novice that they want me not to know what my enemies are doing here, then they don’t know what international relations are all about,” Verma told CTV.
On Wednesday, while testifying before the country’s foreign interference inquiry, Trudeau had admitted that Ottawa had some intelligence inputs and no hard proof before accusing India of killing Nijjar.
