As Canada-India ties hit rock bottom after both New Delhi and Ottawa expelled diplomats, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau hurriedly called a press meeting on Monday where he alleged India 'made a monumental mistake' by supporting criminal activities in Canada.
"The situation is extremely undesirable," Trudeau said after India on Monday expelled six Canadian diplomats and announced withdrawing its high commissioner from Ottawa.
Canada said it identified the Indian High Commissioner in the country as a person of interest in the assassination of Sikh extremist Hardeep Singh Nijjar and expelled him and five other diplomats Monday.
Trudeau's statements come as India and Canada prepare for a crucial meeting between their national security advisors, scheduled for this weekend in Singapore. The Canadian PM said he spoke to Prime Minister Narendra Modi last week and he then "highlighted how incredibly important meeting between our national security advisors in Singapore this weekend was going to be."
"He was aware of that meeting and I pressed upon him that the meeting needs to be taken very, very seriously," Trudeau said.
He then mounted an attack on India, stating that India "made a monumental error in thinking that they could engage in supporting criminal activities against Canadians, here on Canadian soil, be it murder or extortion."
Also read: India, Canada expel diplomats as ties hit new low
But, Canada did not want its ties with India to worsen, Trudeau said. "Not only do we not want Canadians to be subjected to violence in their communities, in their homes, but we also do not want to have these tensions in relations with India," he said.
He said the countries shared good relations and people-to-people ties. "This is not a choice that Canada made to create a chill in Canada-India relations. India is an important democracy, a country with which we have deep historical people-to-people business ties at a time where the instability around geopolitics means democracies have to stick together. That is why when we started to understand through intelligence agencies that India was possibly if not probably, behind (Hardeep Singh) Nijjar's killing, the killing of a Canadian on Canadian soil last summer, our first choice to the government of India to say, we know this has happened, work with us to fix this," he claimed.
He alleged that India, however, chose not to work with Canada and chose to "deny, repel and to make personal attacks against this government." Trudeau said India questioned the integrity of Canadian agencies and our institutions.
He said Canada was going to allow its agencies to do the work and move from intelligence collection from agencies to police investigations that result in arrests, trials and consequences within a rigorous robust and independent judicial system.
"That has been our approach every step of the way. Indeed, over this past week, when the RCMP reached out to its law enforcement counterparts in India, there was a path where we could have worked together to ensure accountability.
However, the Indian government rejected those advances and rejected our attempts to find some way through this, he alleged.
"That brought us to this point of having to disrupt the chain of operations that go from Indian diplomats here in Canada to criminal organisations to direct violent impacts on Canadians right across this country," he added.
Also read: Nijjar row: India withdraws high commissioner from Canada as diplomatic tension escalates
Meanwhile, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) in a statement said that India reserves the right to take further steps in response to the Trudeau government's support for extremism, violence and separatism against India.
"PM Trudeau's hostility to India has long been in evidence," the ministry said. "In 2018, his visit to India, which was aimed at currying favour with a vote bank, rebounded to his discomfort. His cabinet has included individuals who have openly associated with an extremist and separatist agenda regarding India. His interference in Indian internal politics in December 2020 showed how far he was willing to go in this regard," the MEA said.