Vientiane, Laos:

India today strongly rejected claims made by Canadian PM Justin Trudeau that “safety of Canadians” was discussed when he came face-to-face with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Laos, on the sidelines of the ASEAN Summit. The two leaders exchanged greetings.

“There was no substantive discussion between PM Modi and Prime Minister Trudeau in Vientiane,” government sources told NDTV, saying the two leaders only greeted each other when they came face-to-face in Laos.

Speaking about Khalistani activity being encouraged on Canadian soil, foreign ministry sources told NDTV that “India continues to expect that anti-India Khalistani activities will not be allowed to take place on Canadian soil and that firm action, which is lacking thus far, will be taken against those advocating violence, extremism and terrorism against India from Canadian territory.”

Cautioning Canada about growing extremism in the north American country, the source said, “The growing nexus of such forces with organised crime, drug syndicates and human trafficking should be a concern for Canada as well.”

The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation or CBC News said Justin Trudeau described the interaction with PM Modi as a “brief exchange”. “I emphasised that there is work that we need to do,” CBC News quoted Mr Trudeau as saying.

Speaking at a press conference in Laos, Mr Trudeau said, “I won’t go into details about what we talked about but what I’ve said many times is that the safety of Canadians and upholding the rule of law is one of the fundamental responsibilities of any Canadian government and that’s what I’ll stay focused on.”

The brief exchange between PM Modi and Justin Trudeau came almost a year after the Canadian PM accused India of involvement in the death of Khalistani terrorist Hardeep Nijjar, who was taking refuge in Canada and was given citizenship in that country.

India has rejected the claims that such discussions happened during the brief exchange, saying, “India attaches importance to relations with Canada but these cannot be repaired unless the Canadian Government takes strict and verifiable action against those who actively pursue anti-India activities and have conspired to promote hate, disinformation, communal disharmony and violence in India as well as Canada.”

Ties between India and Canada are at an all-time low after Justin Trudeau’s allegations in September of a “potential involvement” of Indian agents in Khalistani terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar’s killing outside a gurdwara in Surrey city on June 18, 2023.

India had designated Hardeep Singh Nijjar as a terrorist in 2020 and has strongly rejected Justin Trudeau’s allegations as “absurd” and “motivated.”
 

Vientiane, Laos:

India today strongly rejected claims made by Canadian PM Justin Trudeau that “safety of Canadians” was discussed when he came face-to-face with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Laos, on the sidelines of the ASEAN Summit. The two leaders exchanged greetings.

“There was no substantive discussion between PM Modi and Prime Minister Trudeau in Vientiane,” government sources told NDTV, saying the two leaders only greeted each other when they came face-to-face in Laos.

Speaking about Khalistani activity being encouraged on Canadian soil, foreign ministry sources told NDTV that “India continues to expect that anti-India Khalistani activities will not be allowed to take place on Canadian soil and that firm action, which is lacking thus far, will be taken against those advocating violence, extremism and terrorism against India from Canadian territory.”

Cautioning Canada about growing extremism in the north American country, the source said, “The growing nexus of such forces with organised crime, drug syndicates and human trafficking should be a concern for Canada as well.”

The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation or CBC News said Justin Trudeau described the interaction with PM Modi as a “brief exchange”. “I emphasised that there is work that we need to do,” CBC News quoted Mr Trudeau as saying.

Speaking at a press conference in Laos, Mr Trudeau said, “I won’t go into details about what we talked about but what I’ve said many times is that the safety of Canadians and upholding the rule of law is one of the fundamental responsibilities of any Canadian government and that’s what I’ll stay focused on.”

The brief exchange between PM Modi and Justin Trudeau came almost a year after the Canadian PM accused India of involvement in the death of Khalistani terrorist Hardeep Nijjar, who was taking refuge in Canada and was given citizenship in that country.

India has rejected the claims that such discussions happened during the brief exchange, saying, “India attaches importance to relations with Canada but these cannot be repaired unless the Canadian Government takes strict and verifiable action against those who actively pursue anti-India activities and have conspired to promote hate, disinformation, communal disharmony and violence in India as well as Canada.”

Ties between India and Canada are at an all-time low after Justin Trudeau’s allegations in September of a “potential involvement” of Indian agents in Khalistani terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar’s killing outside a gurdwara in Surrey city on June 18, 2023.

India had designated Hardeep Singh Nijjar as a terrorist in 2020 and has strongly rejected Justin Trudeau’s allegations as “absurd” and “motivated.”
 

Prime Minister Narendra Modi meets Canadian PM Justin Trudeau at the G7 Outreach Summit, in Apulia on Friday.
| Photo Credit: ANI

Amidst severe strain in bilateral ties, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on June 15 that there was a commitment to work together with India to deal with some “very important issues” after he met Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the sidelines of the G7 Summit.

PM Modi had posted an image on social media of the two leaders shaking hands on June 14, with a one-liner saying “met Canadian PM Justin Trudeau at the G7 Summit”.

The meeting which took place on the sidelines of the G7 Summit in Apulia, southern Italy, is the first amid strained diplomatic relations over pro-Khalistani extremism after Mr. Trudeau alleged that Canadian authorities are “actively pursuing credible allegations” related to Indian Government involvement in the murder of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a designated terrorist.

The Canadian allegations from last year were strongly rejected by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) as “absurd and motivated”.

“I’m not going to get into the details of this important, sensitive issue that we need to follow up, but this was a commitment to work together, in the coming times, to deal with some very important issues,” Mr. Trudeau  told reporters at a press conference in Savelletri Di Fasano in Italy on June 15, the concluding day of the three-day G7 Summit.

The last meeting between the two leaders happened on the sidelines of the G20 Summit hosted by India in September.

Soon after the meeting on June 14 evening, the Canadian Prime Minister’s Office said the leaders had a “brief discussion on the bilateral relationship”, during which Mr. Trudeau  also congratulated PM Modi on his re-election.

“Of course, there are important issues between our two countries right now. You can appreciate that we won’t be making any further statements at this time,” spokesperson Ann-Clara Vaillancourt was quoted by the Canadian Press news agency as saying.

India has been maintaining that the main issue between the two countries is that of Canada giving space to pro-Khalistan elements operating from Canadian soil with impunity.

India has repeatedly conveyed its “deep concerns” to Canada and New Delhi expects Ottawa to take strong action against those elements.

Nijjar’s murder is being probed by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP). Four Indian nationals have been arrested in this connection by the RCMP.

PM Modi’s meeting with Mr. Trudeau came at the end of a packed day of bilateral meetings for the Prime Minister, including with French President Emmanuel Macron, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, Japanese PM Fumio Kishida, German Chancellor Olaf Scholtz and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni — the host of the summit. He also had discussions with other world leaders gathered for the summit, including with U.S. President Joe Biden.

Prime Minister Modi joined leaders of Algeria, Argentina, Brazil, Jordan, Kenya, Mauritania, Tunisia, Turkiye, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to address the Outreach session on Artificial Intelligence, Energy, Africa and the Mediterranean, along with Pope Francis, on the invitation of Meloni.