India probing how Khalistani terrorist Atwal got visa
NEWDELHI: India on Thursday was “ascertaining” details about how convicted Khalistani terrorist Jaspal Atwal got a visa as Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said the Indo-Canadian businessman should never have received the invitation to the official dinner as the incident made headlines.
“Let us not presume things and decide how he managed to come. This is something which we are trying to find out. In due course, we will be able to come up with a reason that how he managed to come in India,” the spokesperson for the ministry of external affairs Raveesh Kumar said.
“There are two aspects to it: presence and visa. The Canadian side has already clarified that the invitation has been withdrawn. About the visa, I don’t know how it happened. We will ascertain information from our commission,” Kumar added.
Atwal, who was photographed with Trudeau’s wife at an event in Mumbai on February 20, and three other men were convicted of the attempted murder for the 1986 attack on Akali Dal leader and minister Malkiat Singh Sidhu on Vancouver Island.
“Obviously, we take this extremely seriously. He should never have received an invitation. As soon as we received the information we rescinded it. A member of parliament had included this individual,” Trudeau said.
Earlier, Canadian authorities said the invitation to Atwal to the dinner reception to be hosted by Canadian high commissioner Nadir Patel for Trudeau at the envoy’s residence in New Delhi on Thursday night had been withdrawn. As the invitation to Atwal made headlines, political leaders and diplomats questioned Trudeau’s assurance that his country won’t support any separatist movement in India.
Congress’ Sunil Jakhar said that Trudeau should respect the sentiments of the Indian government and the people of Punjab.
“He is the head of state and he had assured (chief minister) Capt Amarinder Singh that Canada will not support terrorism in any form,” Jakhar said.
The Congress leader was referring to Trudeau’s meeting with Singh on Wednesday where he said that Canada did not support “any separatist movement in India or elsewhere”.
“Really happy to receive categorical assurance from Canadian PM@Justin Trudeau that his country does not support any separatist movement. His words are a big relief to all of us here in India and we look forward to his government’s support in tackling fringe separatist elements,” Singh tweeted after the meeting.
Senior BJP leader Subramanian Swamy also questioned the stand taken by Canada about not supporting Khalistan.
“It was foolish on our part to not do a background check. And how could Canadians, who claim that they do not support the Khalistani, allow the same,” he was quoted as saying by ANI. Former high commissioner of India to Canada Vishnu Prakash acknowledged the existence of a “cloud” on the Indo-Canadian bilateral ties due to the Khalistan issue.