Video Editor: Puneet Bhatia
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, on Wednesday, 15 November, once again refuted the claims that India allegedly had a role in the extra-judicial killing of Khalistani separatist leader, Hardeep Singh Nijjar, in Canada on 18 June.
Jaishankar was speaking to veteran journalist Lionel Barber at an event held in Wilton Park, London.
This is the latest remark from the EAM in the ongoing diplomatic row between India and Canada, which nosedived after Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, in September this year, claimed that Canadian investigating agencies were actively pursuing “credible allegations” of a “potential link” between Indian government agents and Nijjar’s killing.
Jaishankar once again reiterated his demand that Canada share the said evidence with India.
“We have told them, if you have reasons to believe any such allegations, please share the evidence with us. We are not ruling out an investigation, and looking at anything which they may have to offer. They haven’t done so,” he said.
He further alleged that, “We feel that Canadian politics has given space to violent and extreme political opinions, which advocate separatism from India, including through violent means. These people have been accommodated in Canadian politics; they’ve (been) given the freedom to articulate their views.”
He also talked about the Kanishka Air India bombing of 1985, in which 329 passengers had died, and claimed that Indian diplomats were being “intimidated” in Canada.
“We are a democracy, they are a democracy, but freedom of speech or expression also comes with a responsibility, and the misuse of those freedoms, and toleration of that misuse for political purposes, would be very (wrong),” the EAM said.
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)