Current India-Canada tension precipitated by Trudeau govt's baseless allegations: MEA

PTI, NEW DELHI, OCT 17, 2024: India on Thursday said the current diplomatic row with Canada has been precipitated by the Trudeau government's "baseless" allegations and reiterated that "no evidence" has been shared in support of Ottawa's serious allegations against New Delhi. 

At his weekly briefing, Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's own admission during a public inquiry tells the value of allegations levelled against India. 

Testifying before the public inquiry into foreign interference in federal electoral processes and democratic institutions, Trudeau on Wednesday acknowledged that he had only intelligence and no "hard evidentiary proof" when he alleged the involvement of Indian government agents in the killing of Khalistani separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar last year.

The MEA early on Thursday reacted to this and said what it has heard only "confirms" New Delhi's consistent stand that Canada has "presented us no evidence" in support of the serious allegations Ottawa chose to level against India and Indian diplomats. 

During the briefing, Jaiswal reiterated that so far no evidence has been shared by Canada. "The current crisis (in India-Canada relationship) has been precipitated by the Trudeau government's baseless allegations," he said. 

In response to another query, Jaiswal said there are 26 extradition requests from India pending with the Canadian side for a decade or so. Trudeau on Wednesday acknowledged that he had only intelligence and no "hard evidentiary proof" when he alleged the involvement of Indian government agents in the killing of Khalistani separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar last year. 

The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) issued a statement in the early hours on Thursday in response to media queries related to Trudeau's deposition, some of whose details came out in media reports. 

The ministry further said: "The responsibility for the damage that this cavalier behaviour has caused to India-Canada relations lies with Prime Minister Trudeau alone." 

India strongly rejected attempts by the Canadian authorities to link Indian agents with criminal gangs in Canada, with official sources in New Delhi even saying that Ottawa's assertion that it shared evidence with New Delhi in the Nijjar case was simply not true. 

Sources in New Delhi also rejected Trudeau's previous allegations that India was engaging in activities, including carrying out covert operations targeting Canadian nationals in his country. India earlier on Monday expelled six Canadian diplomats and also announced withdrawing its high commissioner from Canada after dismissing Ottawa's allegations linking the envoy to a probe into the killing of Nijjar. 

The escalation in the diplomatic row between India and Canada is a major downturn in already frosty ties between the two nations.