‘India Was Convicted Without…’: Envoy On Canada’s Probe Into Nijjar Killing

Indian High Commissioner to Canada Sanjay Kumar Verma has said that India was “convicted” even before the investigation into the killing of Khalistani separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar was completed. In an interview with Canada’s CTV News, Verma asserted that India was “absolutely” and “decidedly” not involved in the killing of Nijjar, which has sparked a diplomatic row between New Delhi and Ottawa.

‘Canada Should Provide Specific And Relevant Evidence On Nijjar’s Killing’

When asked why India was not cooperating with Canada in the probe, Verma said, “Even without an investigation being concluded, India was convicted. Is that the rule of law?”

Explaining how India was “convicted” in the matter, Verma said, “Because India was asked to cooperate. And if you look at the typical criminal terminology, when someone asks us to cooperate which means that you have already been convicted, and you better cooperate. So we took it in a very different interpretation.”

The Indian High Commissioner once again asked Canada to provide “specific and relevant” evidence supporting its allegations.

“We always said that if there is anything specific and relevant, and communicated to us, we will look into it…So we have never said, of course, we have not used the word cooperate, because we feel that’s humiliating,” he told CTV News.

Tensions between the two countries soared after Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau alleged involvement of Indian government agents in the killing of Nijjar in June. The accusation saw both countries expelling each other’s diplomats and India suspending all visa facilities for Canadian citizens. However, India resumed e-visa services last week.

‘Criminals Using Canadian Soil To Launch Attacks On India’s Territorial Integrity’

In a subtle reference to the Khalistani movement, Verma said India’s foremost concern in its ties with Canada was of  “some Canadian citizens using Canadian soil to launch attacks on (India’s) sovereignty and territorial integrity”. 

“Most of the known criminals and terrorists who are in Canada from Khalistani mindset…many of them are running their own gangs in India. They are doing drug trafficking. They are running arms,” Verma said in the interview.

The Indian envoy said the activities of criminals in Canada had “crossed the borders” and reached India. 

“As long as there’s a domestic issue in Canada, how do we care? But it has crossed the border that, unfortunately, has reached India, where a chief minister of state was killed by one of those who started these activities from Canada,” he said, in a reference to the assassination of former Punjab Chief Minister Beant Singh.

‘Treating These Elements Like Terrorists, Not As Separatists’

The High Commissioner, while denying that India was exaggerating the risk posed by Sikh separatists to gain domestic political mileage, said the government had shared “documentation” with Canada to substantiate its claims. 

“These are red corner notices, which went through the Interpol. And by the way, one of the recording notices was for Nijjar, who was shot down. So we have shared all these things and Interpol certainly will not forward anything without the evidence being submitted,” Verma said.

The envoy further said India was treating the separatists as “terrorists” as they were raising their funds in Canada and sending it across to the gangsters in India. “So our main concern is not the separatism, but they being terrorists,” he said in the interview.

However, Verma said relations between the two nations were better than they were two months ago and the security situation was “relatively better”.

‘Ties Better Than It Was Two Months Back’

On India resuming e-visa services, he said, “We did a continuous evaluation of the situation. And during the last evaluation, we came to the conclusion that the security situation is relatively better than what it used to be when we suspended the visa services.” 

The envoy also said that India and Canada were in talks over issues affecting bilateral ties and most of it was “very constructive”.

“There’s a lot of conversation going on, a lot of dialogue between the two governments, and I feel that most of it is very constructive. And therefore I would say that, yes, the relationship is better than it was a couple of months back,” Verma said.