New Delhi: While acknowledging the need for India and Canada to “get along”, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has said that he cannot ignore the “problem” created with the killing of Khalistani activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar in British Columbia in June last year.
“Canada and India are the world’s two largest democracies, us by size, them by population. And we should be able to get along,” Trudeau said during an interaction with Punjabi-language media in Toronto on Sunday.
However, referring to the Nijjar killing, Trudeau added, “It’s a problem in our relations with India because we cannot ignore that.”
The interaction, which took place after Trudeau addressed a Khalsa Day event in the presence of several pro-Khalistan figures, was aired by Y Media network three days later.
There were anti-India banners and separatist flags at the event, where Trudeau was greeted with secessionist chants when he entered and left the podium.
Trudeau made it clear supporting Khalistan, if done peacefully, will not be prevented by Canada.
“You get to support whatever beliefs you have, that’s part of what makes Canada a free country. Our job is not to crack down on political protest, that’s something we allow in Canada,” he added.
India registered a protest over the Khalsa Day event happenings, with the Ministry of External Affairs calling Canada’s Deputy High Commissioner on Monday to make New Delhi’s stand clear.
The strained relations between the two countries are likely to continue as India won’t like what Trudeau said.
“We will always follow up when our fellow countries have expressed concerns about behaviour, about violence, about criminality. We take them seriously. What we will not do, however, is go after people because they’re saying things that the Indian government doesn’t like, things that the Indian government disagrees with.”
Asserting that Canada always stood very strongly against “terrorism, violence and intimidation,” Trudeau described India as “an important partner” when it came to people-to-people and business relations as well as cooperation on international issues like climate change.
The killing of Nijjar on Canadian soil, though, will continue to be a sticking point till the matter is resolved to Canada’s satisfaction.
“We want to get through this challenging situation but there needs to be accountability,” Trudeau stated.
