Canada's Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) officials wanted to visit India to share police evidence on the alleged Indian involvement in the killing of Sikh extremist Hardeep Singh Nijjar but India denied them a visa, according to a report that appeared in 'Toronto Star'.
The report, based solely on Canadian sources who remained anonymous, comes as diplomatic relations between the countries hit rock bottom on Monday with both countries expelling their top diplomats.
Since Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau claimed there was evidence suggesting the involvement of the Indian government in the killing of Nijjar, Canada made several overtures to persuade India to cooperate with investigators. However, India did not respond to these allegations, the report claimed.
The report, quoting only unnamed sources, said Canadian officials met with Indian officials twice in Dubai. The first meeting happened in November when Trudeau’s former national security adviser Jody Thomas and deputy foreign affairs minister David Morrison travelled to Dubai to meet with their Indian counterparts on neutral ground.
#WATCH | Ottawa, Ontario (Canada): "It (India) is targeting South Asian community but they are specifically targeting pro-Khalistani elements in Canada...What we have seen is, from an RCMP perspective, they use organised crime elements. It has been publically attributed and… pic.twitter.com/KYKQVSx7Ju
— ANI (@ANI) October 14, 2024
Thomas's replacement Nathalie Drouin went again to Dubai in February to meet NSA Ajit Doval.
Ottawa intensified the efforts last week, following which RCMP personnel were to fly down to India to meet Indian officials to share police evidence. However, India denied them visas after agreeing to meet them first, Toronto Star report said.
The next attempt happened after Indian law enforcement officials agreed to meet with RCMP Deputy Commissioner Mark Flynn at the Canadian embassy in Washington. The meeting was supposed to happen but the Indian officials called to say they would be late, then didn't show up. They did not call back either. That’s when the RCMP and the federal government officials realised there would be no meeting, the Toronto Star added.
There is so far no statement or confirmation from India about any of these meetings happening.
It was then that Flynn flew to Singapore along with Morrison and Drouin to meet Doval and other Indian officials.
During the Singapore meeting, Canada demanded that India waive diplomatic and consular immunity for its six officials, including High Commissioner Sanjay Kumar Verma. Ottawa also wanted India to include Canada in its ongoing review of the allegations in the U.S. regarding an alleged plot to murder another separatist leader Gurpatwant Singh Pannun.
Canada also wanted New Delhi to withdraw the six diplomats.
The report added that though the Indian delegation requested their meeting be kept confidential, Indians violated that agreement by leaking the meeting publicly to Indian media. The report added that India "selectively spun" the narrative to prove as if there had been no police evidence.
"We spent five hours showing the evidence," Toronto Star quoted another source.
It was after this move that Trudeau’s government sent a notice by email to the Indian government declaring the six diplomats as "persona non grata".
