- Sunday, December 22, 2024
Winston Peters, deputy prime minister of New Zealand, one of the members of the intelligence alliance, doubted Ottawa’s charges against India in an interview during his tour of India.
By: Shubham Ghosh
AT a time when India and Canada have found themselves involved in a diplomatic face-off over the murder of Sikh separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar on Canadian soil last year, one of the latter’s key allies has questioned the lack of evidence of the Indian government’s involvement in the case.
In September last year, Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau alleged India’s role in the assassination of Nijjar outside a gurdwara in Surrey in British Columbia in June the same year, triggering a massive controversy that witnessed both sides expelling each other’s diplomats and India even suspending issuing visas to Canadians. Trade talks between the two countries also got affected by the controversy.
Winston Peters, deputy prime minister of New Zealand and also its foreign affairs minister, questioned during an interview with The Indian Express the lack of proof about a “potential” Indian link into the killing of Nijjar despite Trudeau’s charges.
Read: India ‘convicted’ even without probe into Nijjar murder, envoy to Canada claims
Peters, who is on a visit to India between March 10 and 13, became the deputy prime minister in the government of prime minister Christopher Luxon, which took office in November last year, defeating the Left-leaning Labour Party.
The 78-year-old Peters, when asked whether Canada had shared information on the murder case and if Wellington had conveyed its position to New Delhi, said while the matter was handled by the previous government of New Zealand, asked where the evidence is.
Read: Jaishankar seeks evidence on Canada’s allegations over Nijjar murder
“Well, I wasn’t here, it was handled by the previous government. But look, sometimes when you’re hearing Five-Eyes information, you’re hearing it and saying nothing. It is coming past you. You don’t know the value or the quality of it, but you’re pleased to have it. You don’t know whether there is going to be substantial material value or nothing. But the very, very critical information that matters… This was mainly handled by the previous government,” the leader told the Indian newspaper, adding, “As a trained lawyer, I look okay, so where’s the case? Where’s the evidence? Where’s the finding right here, right now? Well, there isn’t one.”
During his tour of India, Peters visited the western Indian state of Gujarat and also met Indian external affairs minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, who had also sought evidence to back Canada’s claims during a visit to the UK last November.
New Delhi made a strong objection after the Trudeau government alleged a “potential” link between the agents of the Indian government and the killer of Nijjar, saying the charges were “absurd” and “motivated”.
India had been lodging a protest over Khalistani separatists’ alleged activism in Canada and accused the Ottawa government of doing little to rein them in. There were also reports that prime minister Narendra Modi rebuked Trudeau when the two met in New Delhi last year for the G20 leaders’ summit.
The Indian side was particularly upset when Khalistani activists allegedly staged a float in a parade depicting the brutal assassination of former Indian prime minister Indira Gandhi by her Sikh bodyguards at her residence in New Delhi in 1984.
Following Trudeau’s allegations, the US, an ally of both Canada and India, said Washington DC has engaged with the Indian government on the matter. It spoke in favour of Canada conducting the investigation and urged India to cooperate.
US ambassador to Canada David Cohen said in an interview to a Canadian channel in September 2023 that “shared intelligence among Five Eye partners” prompted Trudeau to go public with his explosive claims against the Indian government.
