“Appeal to MEA to resolve issue at earliest”: Congress Punjab chief amid India-Canada row
Sep 21, 2023
New Delhi [India], September 21 : Amid India-Canada standoff, Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC) president Amrinder Singh Raja Warring on Thursday said that the decision of Indian government to suspend visa services for Canadians, will badly impact Punjabis who have now taken their citizenship.
In a post on X, Amarinder Singh Raja Warring appealed to the government of India to resolve the issue between both countries at the earliest.
“The decision to suspend visa services for Canadians, amid heightened tensions between India and Canada will badly impact Punjabis who have now taken Canadian citizenship. A large number of Indian Diaspora have families living back home including elderly parents & siblings whom they visit during the festive season, hence I appeal to the @MEAIndia to resolve the issue at the earliest,” he said.
India has announced to stop issuing visas to Canadian citizens amid an escalating row over the killing of a Sikh separatist on Canadian soil.
India said the temporary move was due to "security threats" disrupting work at its missions in Canada.
The development came after Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Monday alleged that the Indian government was behind the fatal shooting of Hardeep Singh Nijjar.
Nijjar, who was a designated terrorist in India, was gunned down outside a Gurdwara, in a parking area in Canada's Surrey, British Columbia on June 18.
Trudeau during a debate in the Canadian Parliament, claimed his country's national security officials had reasons to believe that "agents of the Indian government" carried out the killing of the Canadian citizen, who also served as the president of Surrey's Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara.
The allegations made by the Canadian Prime Minister and foreign minister were rejected by the Ministry of External Affairs in India which dubbed the statements as absurd.
"We have seen and reject the statement of the Canadian Prime Minister in their Parliament, as also the statement by their Foreign Minister. Allegations of the Government of India's involvement in any act of violence in Canada are absurd and motivated" the statement said.
However, speaking about Nijjar, Ravaneet Singh said that the designated terrorist was the right hand of the killers who assassinated his grandfather.
“Hardeep Singh Nijjar was the right hand of the killers who assassinated my grandfather. He went there in 1993 and he got the citizenship...Nijjar and company are out of the 10 most wanted gangsters and drug peddlers...,” he added.
