Prime Minister Justin Trudeau declined to offer more evidence to support
his startling allegation that the Indian government was behind the
murder of a Canadian, but said the decision to come forward was not
taken lightly.
I believe that the decision did come lightly.
There was no reason for him to reveal any of this after his embarrassing and disastrous trip to India. He had to no reason to reveal it at all and certainly no reason to reveal such a thing without evidence.
He must also contend with the fact that he needs the votes of the very people Indian intelligence believes are responsible for violence in India.
If he sides with the Sikhs, he confirms what India alleges, that Canada is a hot-spot of Sikh extremism. If he sides with India (the one that helped humiliate him), he runs the risk of violence in Sikh-rich ridings.
A
dossier put together by Indian intelligence agencies claims that he
became the head of the Sikh temple by threatening his own cousin and the
temple’s former president Raghbir Singh Nijjar.
Nijjar, the
dossier adds, was an old associate of Khalistan Commando Force (KCF)
terrorist Gurdeep Singh aka Deepa Heranwala, who was involved in over
200 killings in Punjab in late 1980s and early 1990s. He was initiated
into crime by another gang lord, Gurnek Singh aka Neka.
Nijjar
escaped to Canada on a forged passport in the name of “Ravi Sharma” in
1996 and kept a low profile as a truck driver and a plumber, the dossier
adds. He came in touch with Pakistan based KTF chief Jagtar Singh Tara
and visited Pakistan under the cover of being a Baisakhi jatha member in
April 2012, it says. He was radicalised by Tara and cultivated by
Pakistan spy agency Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), with the former
imparting him arms and explosives training in 2012 and 2013. The dossier
even claims that in 2013, Tara sent the US-based Harjot Singh Birring
to Canada to train Nijjar in using a handheld GPS device. In 2015, after
the deportation of Jagtar Singh Tara to India from Thailand, Nijjar
assumed the role of operations chief of KTF.
By then, there was
already an Interpol Red Corner notice against him, according to the
dossier. This was issued in November 2014, but he was then granted
citizenship despite his request for political asylum being rejected
twice by the Canadian immigration authorities.
They said that pro-Khalistani outfits such
as the World Sikh Organization (WSO), Khalistan Tiger Force (KTF), Sikhs
for Justice (SFJ) and Babbar Khalsa International (BKI) working at the
behest of Pakistan have been allegedly operating freely from the
Canadian soil.
They said allegations levelled against India by the
Canadian authorities and politicians in relation to the murder of
Canadian citizen Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a Khalistani terrorist, are
incorrect and based on unsubstantiated assumptions.
Nijjar, who had denied allegations by the Indian government that he was a terrorist, was killed in June, outside of Surrey’s Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara. No arrests have been made. ...
The protests in Vancouver and Toronto were part of a larger network of
planned protests. Earlier this month, ahead of the protests, The World
Sikh Organization of Canada warned demonstrators to “remain vigilant and
alert.”
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau would not say whether his government
intends to retaliate after India announced it would stop issuing visas
for Canadians.
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