The Justin Trudeau government’s decision triggered a massive diplomatic row, with India withdrawing its senior diplomats, including envoy Verma.
The Interview:
Senior Indian diplomat Sanjay Verma on Thursday said Canada’s move to declare him a “person of interest” in the murder case of Khalistan separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar was a “kind of back-stabbing”. He also accused Canada of providing refuge to Khalistan terrorists and extremists.
The Justin Trudeau government’s decision triggered a massive diplomatic row, with India withdrawing its senior diplomats, including envoy Verma. New Delhi also expelled six Canadian diplomats.
Declaring me a ‘person of interest’ by Canada came as a shock, a kind of back-stabbing,” he told PTI in an interview.
He described Canada’s shocking move as the most unprofessional approach to bilateral relations. “This is the pits,” he added.
Khalistani terrorists, extremists found refuge in Canada due to the lenient Canadian legal system,” he said,
Envoy Verma said Khalistanis in Canada were involved in human trafficking, gun running and extortion
“Just a handful, about 10,000 people, of Sikhs in Canada are hard-line Khalistanis, making Khalistan a business,” he said.
Verma recalled how he was called by the Canadian government and asked to surrender his diplomatic immunity.
“I was on a visit to Toronto. I was sitting at the airport, and I received a message from an interlocutor in global affairs in Canada, which is the foreign ministry in Canada, to come to the foreign ministry in the evening. Unfortunately, I was not available, I was flying back on the 12th (October). Then on the 13th (October), they agreed to receive me in the morning. So, I and my deputy high commissioner, and after a bit of conversation they told me that I, along with five other diplomats and officials, are ‘persons of interest’ in the inquiry of the killing of (Hardeep Singh) Nijjar.
And, therefore, there was a request to waive my diplomatic immunity as well as the diplomatic immunity of my colleagues, so that we could be interrogated by RCMP which is the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the investigating agency there. So, I took that as a message. We, diplomats, are messengers in any case, so we sent that message back home to advise us what to do,” he told the news agency.
Canada has alleged that Indian agents were behind Nijjar’s murder in 2023. New Delhi has called the allegations absurd and motivated.
India maintains Canada has not shared with it evidence substantiating its allegation.
Deposing before an inquiry earlier this month, Canadian PM Justin Trudeau admitted that his government had shared only intelligence with India, not hard evidence.
“We have never done anything covert, Canada has not shared a shred of evidence,” Sanjay Verma said today.
