Nijjar arrests: Indian foreign minister says Canada welcomes ‘criminals’
Global News
RCMP charged three Indian nationals last Friday in the death of Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar, who was shot dead last June as he left a temple in Surrey, B.C.
India’s Foreign Affairs Minister accused Canada of welcoming criminals from his country in response to the RCMP’s recent arrests in a homicide that has roiled tensions between the two countries.
Subrahmanyam Jaishankar also called Ottawa the No. 1 driver of what he described as a violent movement of Sikhs trying to carve their own country out of India.
“It’s not so much a problem in the U.S.; our biggest problem right now is in Canada,” Jaishankar said Saturday during remarks at a forum for intellectuals in India.
RCMP charged three Indian nationals last Friday in the death of Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar, who was shot dead last June as he left a temple in Surrey, B.C.
Nijjar was a fervent activist for the creation of a Sikh homeland called Khalistan, and his death sparked a wave of protests and rallies against Indian diplomats in Canada.
Those protests reached particular intensity after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau accused New Delhi last September of playing a role in the homicide.
While speaking at the forum in the eastern city of Bhubaneswar, Jaishankar took questions on multiple topics.
One attendee asked about countries like the U.S. and Canada wanting to partner with India while allowing people to support a separatist movement there, which New Delhi deems unconstitutional. Another attendee inquired about last Friday’s arrests.