Hours after extending his support, Canadian opposition leader Pierre Poilievre demanded Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to “come clean with facts” on his allegations of India’s role in the killing of Sikh separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar. The Canadian Conservative party leader said that the Prime Minister Trudeau has just provided a statement and not facts supporting his allegations against New Delhi.
“I think the prime minister needs to come clean with all the facts. We need to know all the evidence possible so that Canadians can make judgments on that. The prime minister hasn’t provided any facts. He provided a statement,” Poilievre said during a press briefing on Tuesday.
On Monday, Trudeau told the country’s Parliament that Canada was investigation “credible allegations” linking India to Hardeep Singh Nijjar’s killing in June this year. Nijjar, a New Delhi designated terrorist was gunned down by two masked men in parking area of the Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara in Surrey.
The Canadian government expelled an Indian diplomat identified as Pawan Kumar Rai over the killings. In retaliation, India also expelled Canadian intelligence services India state chief and asked him to leave in no more than five days.
The diplomatic row over the murder of the Sikh separatist leader has further deteriorated the already strained bilateral relations between Canada and India.
According to a report published in The Washington Post, Canadian officials discussed the issue of Nijjar killing with the US and the UK week before Trudeau made his allegations against New Delhi public. He also wanted his NATO allies to publicly condemn the killings before the G20 Summit.
However, the US authorities were reluctant and overlooked Canada’s bid to corner New Delhi. By expelling Indian diplomat and informing the UK and US about it, Canada was hoping for a Russia-like response from its NATO allies.
In 2018, the British government had accused Russia of carrying out a nerve agent attack on British soil. In response, the US, Canada and several other European countries expelled their Russian diplomats.
However, it didn’t happen in case of Nijjar’s killing for the fact that New Delhi has out rightly denied the Canadian claims and Trudeau made his allegations public even without completing an investigation.