India rebukes Canada PM's no 'hard proof' admission, says  responsibility for damage lies with Trudeau alone

New Delhi, Oct 17 (IANS) As Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau testified before a Commission of Inquiry, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) on Thursday 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. 

The MEA also held Trudeau's "cavalier behaviour" responsible for damaging India-Canada relations.

"What we have heard today only confirms what we have been saying consistently all along -- Canada has presented us no evidence whatsoever in support of the serious allegations that it has chosen to level against India and Indian diplomats," said MEA Spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal in an official statement on Wednesday night in response to Trudeau's comment on Wednesday.

"The responsibility for the damage that this cavalier behaviour has caused to India-Canada relations lies with Prime Minister Trudeau alone," he added.

Earlier on Wednesday, Trudeau, testifying before Canada's foreign interference inquiry, said India has been insisting on evidence over allegations levelled by Canada regarding the killing of Khalistani terrorist Nijjar but his government had provided just intelligence, "not hard evidentiary proof."

"Behind the scenes (we're trying) India to co-operate with us. Their ask was...give us the evidence you have on us. Our response was it is within your security agency. You should be looking into how much they know, you should be engaging... 'No, no but show us the evidence'. At that point, it was primarily intelligence, not hard evidentiary proof. So we said let's work together...," Canadian PM said.

The ties between India and Canada soured after Trudeau alleged in the Canadian Parliament last year that he has "credible allegations" of India's hand in the killing of Khalistani terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar.

India has denied all the allegations, calling them "absurd" and "motivated" and has accused Canada of giving space to extremist and anti-India elements in their country.

Nijjar, who was designated a terrorist by India's National Investigation Agency in 2020, was shot and killed outside a gurdwara in Surrey in June last year.

The recent diplomatic row erupted when Canada labelled India's High Commissioner and other diplomats as "persons of interest" in the investigation of Nijjar's death.

India on Monday expelled six Canadian diplomats hours after it summoned Canada's Charge d'Affaires Stewart Wheeler and conveyed that the "baseless targeting" of the Indian High Commissioner and other diplomats and officials in Canada was completely unacceptable.

MEA said earlier that it was underlined to Canada's Charge d'Affaires that in an atmosphere of extremism and violence, the Trudeau government's actions endangered their safety and the government had decided to withdraw India's High Commissioner to Canada Sanjay Kumar Verma and other targeted diplomats and officials.

The Indian government conveyed that India reserves the right to take further steps in response to the "Trudeau government's support for extremism, violence and separatism against India".

--IANS

khz/