Breaking:
PM Carney affirms — Canada has *“some evidence” of Modi government’s involvement in assassination of Shaheed Nijjar
In a first, PM Carney, in an interview with The New York Times, acknowledged:
“First off, we think, and there’s some evidence [Modi government’s hand in the assassination of Shaheed Nijjar], and I’ll leave it since I don’t want to delve into specific prosecutions….”
PM Carney concluded by expressing apprehension that India-backed crimes could continue to occur in Canada:
“I can’t guarantee that no [Indian government-backed] crime will occur in Canada.”
Excerpts of PM Carney’s 27 September Interview with New York Times: Relations with India Matina Stevis-Gridneff
Question:
You mentioned India and it’s timely. [Prime Minister Narendra] Modi is coming to Canada. You visited earlier this year. Obviously, this is a really painful topic for many Canadians. It was very recently that your predecessor ruptured that relationship by saying that Modi’s government was behind an assassination on Canadian soil. Do you have reason to believe that this intervention, transnational repression, meddling in Canadian affairs, since you have restarted that relationship, has so radically changed that it no longer poses a threat to Canadians of Indian descent, Sikhs or otherwise?
Mark Carney
First off, we think, and there’s some evidence, and I’ll leave it since I don’t want to delve into specific prosecutions, but there’s some evidence of heightened coordination and implications of that heightened coordination for protecting Canadians and protecting others. That’s the first point, and more generally, the security cooperation that’s part of the relationship, which obviously could not take place in a rupture, we think is helpful and good. I’m a believer that, regardless of the relationship, it’s important to have a relationship so you can deliver messages directly, as opposed to preach from afar, and to limited effect. So there’s been progress. The security side has deepened. You asked your question a bit like, almost, can I guarantee that no crime will occur in Canada? I can’t guarantee that no crime will occur in Canada.
Gurpatwant Singh Pannun
SFJ General Counsel
“PM Carney’s first public acknowledgment of ‘some evidence’ corroborates and vindicates what Prime Minister Trudeau stated in Parliament on September 18, 2023, that Indian government agents were involved in the assassination of Khalistan Referendum organizer Shaheed Hardeep Singh Nijjar.
Canada later expelled six Indian diplomats and consular officials after the RCMP gathered what Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly described as ‘ample, clear and concrete evidence’ identifying six individuals as persons of interest in the Nijjar case.
SFJ maintains that Indian diplomats Sanjay Kumar Verma, Manish, Kanwaljit and R&AW official Pavan Rai were directly involved in the assassination operation.