Canada’s Message To India: Focus Is On Nijjar Investigation, Not Resuming Trade Talks

New Delhi: Canada is still very serious about its claim of Indian agents’ involvement in the murder of Khalistani terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar on Canadian soil five months ago.

Four days after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau took a fresh dig at India, one of his senior ministers said that the Canadian government is focused on getting India to cooperate in the investigation into Nijjar’s killing rather than on resuming trade talks.

“Right now, the focus for Canada is to let the work of the investigation proceed,” Canada’s Minister of Export Promotion, International Trade & Economic Development Mary Ng on the sidelines of Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meet in San Francisco.

Asked whether trade talks with India could the minister said: “You’ve heard me and the government talk about how important it is that investigation happens given that we had a Canadian killed on Canadian soil. So, we’ll let that happen.”

Without directly connecting cooperation in the probe and trade talks, she said, ”Our focus is, of course, on this investigation, that work has to take place.”

Canada paused Early Progress Trade Agreement (EPTA) deliberations prior to Trudeau’s statement on September 18 in the House of Commons that there were “credible allegations” of a potential link between Indian agents and Nijjar’s murder on June 18 near n Vancouver, in British Columbia.

A Mary-led Canadian trade team’s visit to India, scheduled in October, was also called off.