Trudeau supports ‘rogue hand’ theory, angers India
TORONTO/NEW DELHI: Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is standing by a senior national security official’s startling accusation that a convicted Khalistani terrorist’s presence in India during his recent visit was an attempt by “rogue” elements in the Indian establishment to embarrass him on the issue of Sikh separatist activity on Canadian soil.
As the debacle that was Trudeau’s visit to India captivated the Canadian political class, opposition Conservatives raised the issue in the House of Commons, the lower house of Parliament. They asked whether Trudeau agreed with the “conspiracy theory” advanced by the official, identified by Canadian media as National Security Advisor Daniel Jean.
Responding to the Opposition attack, Trudeau said, “When one of our top diplomats and security officials says something to Canadians, it’s because they know it to be true.” Hours after Trudeau’s remarks, India’s external affairs ministry said any suggestion that the Indian government had anything to do with Atwal’s presence at two official events in Mumbai and New Delhi was “baseless and unacceptable”.
Trudeau’s comment also brought a furious retort from Conservative MP and leader of Opposition, Andrew Scheer, who tweeted: “Justin Trudeau just made an incredibly serious charge against the Indian government — which has real implications for Canada’s foreign relations and national security. He needs to provide proof of this immediately.”
Jean, during a news conference in New Delhi last Thursday, told the Canadian media it was “not an accident” that Jaspal Atwal was present in India and had been removed from a “blacklist” by the Indian government.
Atwal and three men were convicted of attempted murder for a 1986 attack on Akali Dal leader Malkiat Singh Sidhu while he was visiting relatives in Canada.
Sidhu, then a minister of state in the Punjab government, was injured in the attack. He was later killed by Sikh militants in Punjab in 1991.