PM vows ‘conversation’ with MP in Atwal furor
Failed assassin invited to India receptions
NEW DELHI • Justin Trudeau say she will sit down next week with the Liberal MP responsible for putting a failed assassin on the guest list for two high- profile receptions with the prime minister.
Trudeau is being peppered with questions about the lingering controversy, but is only saying that he will meet next week with Liberal MP Randeep Sarai.
Sarai has taken full responsibility for the fact that Jaspal Atwal — convicted in the 1980s of attempting to kill an Indian cabinet minister who was travelling in Canada — was invited to the two events, including one where he was photographed alongside Trudeau’s wife, Sophie Gregoire Trudeau.
Earlier Friday, in a telephone briefing arranged by the Prime Minister’s Office, a government official suggested that Atwal’s presence was linked to factions within the Indian government who refuse to believe there is no risk posed to a united India by Sikh separatists living abroad.
The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, says those factions are trying to prevent Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government from getting too cosy with foreign governments they believe want to undermine a united India.
A former senior Conservative government official dismissed that theory.
“That is complete nonsense,” said Garry Keller, who served as chief of staff to interim Conservative leader Rona Ambrose.
How exactly Atwal got to India — given his criminal history — is a legitimate question, Keller said.
“And that’s a valid question for the Indians to con- sider themselves. But the Indians didn’t have control over the guest list at the event. That was ultimately a decision of the Prime Minister’s Office.”
Trudeau spent much of his news conference trying to counter the persistent narrative that the trip has gone badly, insisting that the Canadian delegation has been well received throughout the week and that relations between the two countries remain strong.
Whatever success Trudeau has enjoyed in India, however, has been overshadowed by the Atwal controversy.
“The situation was unacceptable; this individual never should have been invited,” Trudeau told the news conference.
“The MP responsible has taken responsibility, and I will be having a conversation with that MP in Canada next week.”
During the telephone briefing, reporters were told Canadian security officials received a tip from intelligence sources within Canada on Wednesday morning that Atwal had been at a reception in Mumbai with the prime minister Tuesday evening.
Canadian officials then confirmed Atwal’s identity and presence at the Mumbai reception. They also confirmed that he was on the guest list for an event with Trudeau at the High Commissioner’s residence Thursday night in New Delhi.
The official said Atwal has, since his conviction, been on a list of people banned by India from getting a visa to visit the country because of their ties to Sikh separatist and extremist groups but that he was suddenly removed from that blacklist last summer — long before Trudeau’s trip was planned.
Canada played no part in getting Atwal off the blacklist or getting him a visa to visit India, said the official.
He was never part of the official delegation.
The official said Atwal poses no security risk and no longer has any known ties to extremist causes. His invitation was withdrawn, however, because of the diplomatic nightmare it posed to Trudeau, who has spent much of this trip trying to assure the Indian government that Canada does not support Sikh separatism.
The official said it was “very interesting” to Canada that, after days of Trudeau and other cabinet ministers insisting the Canadian government supports a united India, this issue suddenly blew up.
The tip to some media that the RCMP in Surrey, B.C., knew about Atwal’s invitation before the trip started and warned the Prime Minister’s Office is false, he said.
He said if t he Surrey RCMP had received such a tip it would not have gone to the PMO but rather to RCMP headquarters.
The official said Atwal has close ties to some Indian diplomats in Vancouver, which may be the route he used to get off the blacklist.
There still remain many questions, including how Sarai was involved and how it came to be that Sarai asked for Atwal to be added to the guest lists.
Sarai issued a statement saying it was his choice and his alone to include Atwal. Sarai has not been available for interviews to further explain.