Ottawa, Nov 26: India was “absolutely” and “decidedly” not involved in the killing of Khalistani separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Canada and Ottawa has “convicted” New Delhi even before the completion of the investigation, India’s High Commissioner here Sanjay Kumar Verma has said.
Verma’s remarks came during an interview with CTV News, Canada’s largest privately owned television network.
Canada and India witnessed strains in ties following Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s allegations in September of the “potential” involvement of Indian agents in the killing of Nijjar on June 18 in British Columbia. India had designated Nijjar as a terrorist in 2020. India has rejected Trudeau’s allegations as “absurd” and “motivated”.
During the interview, Verma was asked why India was not cooperating with Canada in the investigation. To this, he said, “…even without an investigation being concluded, India was convicted.” “Is that the rule of law?” Verma asked.
When asked how India was convicted, Verma replied: “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. But we always said that if there is anything specific and relevant, and communicated to us, we will look into it. (PTI)
