The story so far: Hours before parliamentarians in India were getting ready for a special session in the new Parliament building in Delhi on Tuesday, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau stood up in the Canadian Parliament in Ottawa to make a startling announcement. He alleged that agents of the Indian government were involved in the killing of a Canadian national, Hardeep Singh Nijjar, declared a terrorist as the head of the Khalistani Tiger Force (KTF) in India. Nijjar, 45, was shot dead by two masked gunmen as he left a gurdwara in Surrey in June this year. Despite the Canadian Prime Minister admitting that the investigation was still being pursued, his government had already decided to expel a senior diplomat from the Indian High Commission.
How did India react?
The allegations came a week after Mr. Trudeau was in India for the G-20 summit, and a stormy bilateral “pull-aside” meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. After the meeting both sides issued readouts pointing fingers at each other for “foreign interference in Canada’s affairs” and “providing safe havens to anti-India extremists” respectively, but neither had revealed at the time that Nijjar’s killing had been discussed. In addition, it emerged that Canadian National Security Adviser (NSA) Jody Thomas had travelled to India twice in the past month, to discuss the case with India’s NSA Ajit Doval, although the government repeatedly said that no “specific evidence” had been provided by Canada. However, reports in the U.S media have suggested that Canada shared evidence with partners in the “Five Eyes” intelligence alliance comprising the U.S., the U.K., Canada, Australia and New Zealand prior to the G-20 summit, and that some of their leaders had discussed the issue with Mr. Modi.
