All eyes are towards External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar’s address to UN General Assembly in New York tomorrow where he is expected to respond to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s “credible allegations” over Indian involvement in the killing of Pak-trained Khalistani terrorist Hardeep Nijjar in June.
While New Delhi is still waiting for Canada to provide legal evidence of linking India to Khalistan Tiger Force chief Nijar’s killing, it is quite evident that Trudeau’s Sikh politics will not allow him to back down on the issue. Whether the quality of evidence or intelligence will stand the legal test or not, expect Trudeau to throw some Indian name in the air and pin the Nijjar murder on him or her.
The fact is that the Sikh vote is so important to Canadian politics that former prime minister Stephen Harper requested Prime Minister Narendra Modi to visit a Surrey Gurudwara in British Columbia when he visited Canada in 2015. It is another matter that PM Modi found his supporters even within that radicalized community some two hours away from Vancouver.
Meanwhile, Canada updated its travel advisory to India after duly informing South Block well in advance about the impending exercise as some videos targeting Canada were floating on the net. It is understood that New Delhi was informed at a senior level that the travel advisory was being updated and nothing much should be read into it.
Since Trudeau chose the Canadian Parliament as his platform to hurl unsubstantiated allegations against the Modi government for ordering an extra-judicial killing, it is understood that a proper response in Jaishankar’s style is expected in his speech to UNGA tomorrow before he boards a train to Washington DC for bilateral meetings with Biden Administration. During his meetings in Washington, EAM Jaishankar will discuss bilateral ties as well as the validity and credibility of the evidence provided by Five Eyes Alliance to Canada on Nijjar’s killing.
However, with the time passing by, it is for the Trudeau government to name the contract killer of Nijjar soon unless the Canadian plan is to keep the issue simmering with India and make another unsubstantiated allegation a month or two months later to revive the issue.
India on its part is very clear that since the Modi government has no role in the political killing of Nijjar, it supports the legal process in Canada but will confront any unsubstantiated charge against India. It is for Trudeau or his Sancho Panza Jagmeet Singh to provide credible evidence on paper against India and arrest the rapid decline in bilateral ties initiated by the PM and his Foreign Minister’s incredible remarks.
