Nijjar killing: What Amit Shah said after Justin Trudeau’s fresh statement

Union home minister Amit Shah on Thursday reiterated India’s stance on Khalistani separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar’s killing and completely rejected Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s allegation of the “potential” involvement of Indian agents in the murder.

Amit Shah’s statement comes a day after Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said that his decision to make allegations in public about a possible Indian government link and the killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar was intended to “put a chill” on them from repeating a similar action.

Rejecting the allegations related to the killing of Nijjar on June 18 in Surrey, Shah, during a conclave of news channel Aaj Tak, asked, “What are terrorists wanted in India doing in Canada?”

“We have completely denied these allegations. They (the Canadian government) should also answer what terrorists wanted in India were doing in Canada,” Shah said.

The relations between India and Canada came under severe strain following Trudeau’s allegations on September 18 of a “potential” involvement of Indian agents in the killing of Nijjar in British Columbia. India had designated Nijjar as a terrorist in 2020.

India rejected Trudeau’s allegations as “absurd” and “motivated”.

Days after Trudeau’s allegations in September, India temporarily suspended the issuance of visas to Canadian citizens. It resumed some visa services in Canada last month, more than a month after they were suspended.

What Justin Trudeau said on Hardeep Nijjar killing

In a year-end interview with The Canadian Press news agency on Wednesday, Trudeau said he decided to make the announcement on September 18 because he expected that information would be eventually leaked through the media.

The prime minister said the message he delivered in the House of Commons that day was intended as an “extra level of deterrence” to keep Canadians safer.

Trudeau said his public statement came after weeks of “quiet diplomacy” that included raising the allegations with India at the highest levels.

“We knew it would be difficult conversations, but we also knew that this was an important moment for India to be demonstrating its leadership on the world stage with the G20,” Trudeau said. “And we felt that we could use that as a constructive opportunity to work together.”

“Too many Canadians were worried that they were vulnerable,” Trudeau said.

Trudeau also said Canada warned India that what it knew would eventually come out and that while Ottawa had managed to keep things “on a diplomatic level” leading up to the G20 summit, it could not control much beyond that.

In the interview, Trudeau said Canada intends to reveal evidence very much in the fashion the US did when “we reach those points in the investigation.” But he noted that US authorities started their investigation into attempted murder earlier.

Last week, external affairs minister S Jaishankar told the Rajya Sabha that Canada has not shared any specific evidence or inputs with India.