New national security panel to look at Atwal controversy

The new national security committee of parliamentarians is conducting a special review of the Jaspal Atwal affair that has dogged the Liberal government since Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s ill-fated trip to India in February.

The committee of MPs and senators will go behind closed doors to examine allegations relating to foreign interference in Canadian politics, risks to the prime minister’s security and inappropriate use of intelligence. In a statement, the committee, which has access to classified materials, says the issues could have important implications for Canada’s national security and sovereignty.

Trudeau was embarrassed during the trip when it was revealed that Atwal, a B.C. Sikh convicted of trying to assassinate an Indian minister in 1986, had been invited to two events with the prime minister.

He was photographed with Trudeau’s wife and at least one cabinet minister during an event in Mumbai; an invitation to a second event was rescinded after news broke of Atwal’s presence.

Trudeau’s national security adviser, Daniel Jean, suggested during a background briefing that factions in the Indian government had sabotaged Trudeau’s trip.

Jean advanced the theory that rogue factions in the Indian government arranged for Atwal’s presence.