Canada failed to act against Bishnoi gang despite India’s request: MEA
The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said on Thursday that India had requested Canada to arrest members of the Lawrence Bishnoi gang but it didn’t act on New Delhi’s “core concerns”. The MEA also rejected “false imputations against our diplomats” made by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
“We had shared some requests with the Canadian side for the arrest of those from Lawrence Bishnoi’s gang. They haven’t taken any action on our core concerns. There is a political motive also behind this,” MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said today.
Acknowledging that he had no “hard evidentiary proof” and had only intelligence when Canada alleged the involvement of Indian government agents in the killing of Khalistani separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar last year, Justin Trudeau on Wednesday said there were “clear indications” that India had violated Canadian sovereignty.
Referring to Trudeau’s admission, the MEA reiterated that Canada hasn’t shared a shred of evidence with New Delhi proving Indian agents’ involvement in the murder.
“We have made our position very clear on this particular matter. You would have seen that several press releases have been issued in the last two days putting out our position, and we are very clear that since September of 2023, the Canadian government has not shared any shred of information with us. Yesterday, again, after the public inquiry, and public hearing again, issued a statement saying that Canada has given serious allegations but has so far not given any evidence to back it up…as far as the allegations are concerned, PM Trudeau’s own admission, yesterday would decade the value as regards are stands…we reject false imputations against our diplomats,” said Jaiswal.
Justin Trudeau, testifying before the public inquiry into foreign interference, claimed on Wednesday that Indian diplomats had been collecting information on Canadians who are in disagreement with the Narendra Modi government and passing it to the Lawrence Bishnoi gang.
The Bishnoi gang is notorious in India because of several high-profile murders.
Canada last week communicated with New Delhi that the latter’s senior diplomats were “persons of interest” in the Nijjar murder case. In response, New Delhi withdrew its diplomats from Canada and expelled Canadian officials from India.
On Wednesday, the Canadian PM admitted that the country had only intelligence, not hard evidence, on India’s alleged involvement in Nijjar’s killing.
“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 Jaiswal on Thursday morning.