Ottawa: Dinesh Patnaik, India’s high commissioner to Canada, reacted strongly to unsubstantiated claims regarding New Delhi’s hand in the killing of NIA-designated terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar.
These allegations, primarily made by former Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau, led to a strain in relations between the two countries.
Patnaik responded to a question during CBC News’ “Power & Politics” on allegations that India had interfered in the country’s internal affairs by killing Nijjar and repeatedly demanded “evidence”, saying accusations cannot stand without evidence.
“Well, where is the evidence? Every time you keep on saying ‘credible information’,” the Indian envoy said, rejecting the allegations as unsubstantiated, as reported by ANI.
“We have always said it’s preposterous and absurd; it’s something we don’t do. These are allegations which have not been backed by evidence. There’s always easy-to-do accusations. Accusations are easy,” Patnaik added.
The Indian envoy emphasised that the ongoing legal case in Canada does not implicate the Indian state, adding that the accusations stemmed from statements made by a former Canadian prime minister and his team.
“You have accused us, but where have we been implicated? The case is going on in court… And the case in court is also against four individuals. Where is the case against a state? It’s a talk given by a former prime minister backed by his team at that time, which he had; they had to back it. Where is the evidence on the ground?” he asked.
“We can go into who said what. At the end of the day, it’s about evidence on the ground,” Patnaik said, reiterating India’s long-standing position that it is willing to act if credible proof is presented.
“We have said very clearly, if there is evidence ever coming out, if you provide us evidence, we will take action ourselves. We don’t need you to take action on that. What we need is for you to give us evidence for us to take action,” he said
“When you accuse us, what happens here is my accusations need evidence. Your accusations don’t need evidence, right,” the Indian diplomat said In a pointed remark aimed at the framing of the allegations.
“You have accusations; you have to back it up with evidence. You can’t say I accuse you, and you have to now justify yourselves,” he added.
India has done long called out Canada’s perceived leniency towards Khalistani separatist elements.
After, the killing of Nijjar outside a gurdwara in Canada in 2023, Trudeau alleged a hand by Indian agencies. India strongly rejected the allegations and termed them “politically motivated”.
