Not A Fight We Want But Will Unequivocally Stand Up For Rule Of Law: Trudeau On India-Canada Diplomatic Row

PM Trudeau reiterated that his country has “very serious reasons” to believe that “agents' of the Indian government may have been involved in the killing of the Khalistani leader.

New Delhi: Reaffirming his allegation of an Indian hand in the murder of Sikh separatist leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Sunday said his country wants to work “constructively” with India to pursue “this very serious matter” to its logical end.

The Canadian PM reiterated that his country has “very serious reasons” to believe that “agents' of the Indian government may have been involved in the killing of the Khalistani leader.

“We have been very clear that we want to work constructively with India on this very serious matter. From the very beginning, we shared the real allegations that we are deeply concerned about but we have reached out to the Indian government and to partners around the world to get to the bottom of this, to take it seriously,” PM Trudeau said, news agency ANI reported.

Tying his claim around Nijjar's murder to New Delhi revoking the diplomatic immunity of 40 Canadian diplomats in the country, PM Trudeau said he was “disappointed” when India “arbitrarily” stripped 40 Canadian diplomats of their immunity at a time when his country was reaching out to New Delhi and other global partners “to get to the bottom of this”.

“We were disappointed when India violated the Vienna Convention and arbitrarily revoked the diplomatic immunity of over 40 Canadian diplomats in India...We have serious reasons to believe that agents of the government of India could have been involved in the killing of a Canadian citizen on Canadian soil and India's response is to kick out a whole bunch of Canadian diplomats by violating their rights under the Vienna Convention,” PM Trudeau said.

“That is of concern to countries around the world because if a given country can just decide that their diplomats of another country are no longer protected, that makes international relations more dangerous and more serious. But every step of the way, we have tried to work constructively and positively with India, and we will continue to and that means continuing to work with Indian government diplomats. This is not a fight we want to be having right now but we will unequivocally always stand up for the rule of law,” he added.