Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has accused the Indian government of supporting criminal activities in Canada, saying it made a "fundamental error".
Trudeau's statement came as tensions escalated between the two countries after India expelled six Canadian diplomats and announced withdrawing its High Commissioner from Canada.
This move by the Indian government came after New Delhi strongly dismissed Ottawa's allegations linking the envoy to a probe into the killing of Khalistani sympathiser Hardeep Singh Nijjar.
Addressing a press conference, Trudeau said: "The Indian government made a fundamental error in thinking that they could engage in supporting criminal activities against Canadians, here on Canadian soil, be it murder or extortion. This is absolutely unacceptable."
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He highlighted that India is an important democracy with deep historical people-to-people business ties and claimed that it was "not a choice" to create a chill in Canada-India relations.
"India is an important democracy, a country with which we have deep historical people-to-people business ties at a time where the instability around geopolitics means democracies have to stick together," he said.
"That is why when we started to understand through intelligence agencies that India was possibly if not probably, behind (Hardeep Singh) Nijjar's killing, the killing of a Canadian on Canadian soil last summer, our first choice to the government of India to say, we know this has happened, work with us to fix this," Trudeau claimed.
He further said that Canada has taken a transparent approach and sought cooperation with Indian authorities.
Trudeau claimed that the Royal Canadian Mounted Police reached out to its law enforcement counterparts in India "where we could have worked together to ensure accountability and changes and steps that would have resulted in keeping Canadians safe because that is our top priority."
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However, he added that the Indian government "rejected" those advances and "rejected our attempts to find some way through this."
During the press conference, the Canadian PM stressed the importance of an upcoming meeting between their national security advisors, scheduled to be held this weekend in Singapore.
Indian Officials Engaged In Clandestine Activities: RCMP
The RCMP, which has been investigating the matter, alleged on Monday that a wide variety of entities in Canada and abroad was used by Indian agents to collect information and then used the details to target members of the South Asian community in Canada.
"Investigations have revealed that Indian diplomats and consular officials based in Canada leveraged their official positions to engage in clandestine activities, such as collecting information for the government of India, either directly or through their proxies; and other individuals who acted voluntarily or through coercion," the RCMP claimed in a statement.
It further alleged that Indian agents "coerced and threatened into working for the government of India." "The information collected for the Government of India is then used to target members of the South Asian community," it added.
New Delhi has dismissed the charges levelled by Canada against its diplomats and officials.