Hardeep Singh Nijjar Murder: 'Isolated' Trudeau Calls For Closer Ties With India

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who has been in the eye of the storm after he accused Indian agents of being behind the killing of Khalistani terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar has now said that his country is "very serious" about building closer ties with India.

Speaking at a press conference in Montreal, Trudeau said that he thinks it is "extremely important" that Canada and its allies continue to engage "constructively and seriously" with India, given its growing importance on the world stage.

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What Justin Trudeau said

"India is a growing economic power and important geopolitical player. And as we presented with our Indo-Pacific strategy just last year, we're very serious about building closer ties with India," he said.

Trudeau, however, added that Canada and India should work together in the investigation into the killing of Nijjar in British Colombia in June.

"At the same time, obviously, as a rule of law country, we need to emphasise that India needs to work with Canada to ensure that we get the full facts of this matter," he said.

AP

How Trudeau angered India

Earlier this month, Trudeau had unleashed quite a firestorm after he told the Canadian Parliament that there were credible allegations of the "potential" involvement of Indian agents in the killing of Nijjar.

India angrily rejected the allegations as "absurd" and "motivated". India also challenged Trudeau to make the evidence public.

Why Trudeau was isolated

The unexpected turn of events had put Trudeau on the back foot, with opposition from within his country and the US not publically backing him on the claims.

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Trudeau on Thursday said he got assurances from the United States that Secretary of State Antony Blinken would be raising the allegations during a meeting with his Indian counterpart in Washington on Thursday.

However, in its readout on the meeting between Blinken and Jaishankar, the US State Department did not say whether the two leaders discussed the India-Canada diplomatic standoff.

"The Americans have been with us in speaking to the Indian government about how important it is that they be involved in following up on the credible allegations that agents of the Indian government killed a Canadian citizen on Canadian soil," said Trudeau.

This is something that all democratic countries, all countries that respect the rule of law, need to take seriously, he said.

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What is US doing?

Last week, US Ambassador to Canada David Cohen told CTV News Channel that there was "shared intelligence among Five Eyes partners" of a "potential" link between the government of India and the murder of Nijjar, an India-born Canadian citizen.

'Five Eyes' network is an intelligence alliance consisting of the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, and New Zealand. It is both surveillance-based and signals intelligence (SIGINT).

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