UK in "close touch" with Canada on allegations of India's role in killing of Khalistani leader
Sep 19, 2023
London [UK], September 19 : The United Kingdom is in "close touch" with its Canadian partners about serious allegations made by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on India's link in the alleged assassination of Khalistani leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar.
"We are in close touch with our Canadian partners about these serious allegations," a UK government spokesperson told ANI.
“It would be inappropriate to comment further during the ongoing investigation by the Canadian authorities,” the official said.
Notably, India rejected the allegations by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau earlier today, regarding the Indian government’s involvement in the fatal shooting of Khalistan Tiger Force chief and a designated terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Canada. In a statement, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) termed the allegations ‘absurd ‘and ‘motivated’.
“We have seen and reject the statement of the Canadian Prime Minister in their Parliament, as also the statement by their Foreign Minister,” said the MEA in an official statement.
“Allegations of the Indian government’s “involvement in any act of violence in Canada are absurd and motivated” the release added.
The Indian response came a day after Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made the allegations against the Indian government on Monday (September 18) of being behind the fatal shooting of Khalistan Tiger Force chief Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Canada.
Najjar, who was wanted in India, was gunned down outside a Gurdwara, in a parking area in Canada's Surrey, British Columbia on June 18.
Trudeau triggered a diplomatic storm on Monday by saying there was “credible evidence” India was responsible for the alleged assassination of Hardeep Singh Nijjar.
Hailing from Bharsinghpur village in Punjab's Jalandhar, Nijjar was based in Surrey and had been declared "absconder" by the National Investigation Agency (NIA).
Earlier on Monday, speaking in a debate in the Canadian Parliament, Canadian PM Trudeau 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.
"Canadian security agencies have been actively pursuing credible allegations of a potential link between agents of the Government of India and the killing of a Canadian citizen, Hardeep Singh Nijjar," Trudeau said.
He stated that the involvement of a foreign hand or government in the killing of a Canadian citizen in Canada was unacceptable.
