Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Saturday said that his government was “committed to working together” with India to deal with some “very important issues”, PTI reported.
Trudeau’s remarks came after he met Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the sidelines of the Group of Seven summit in Italy.
“I’m not going to get into the details of this important, sensitive issue that we need to follow up, but this was a commitment to work together, in the coming times, to deal with some very important issues,” PTI quoted Trudeau as having told reporters at a press conference.
This was the first meeting between the two leaders since the diplomatic ties between New Delhi and Ottawa strained in September. The Canadian prime minister had told his country’s parliament that intelligence agencies were actively pursuing “credible allegations” tying agents of the Indian government to the murder of Sikh separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Canada.
Nijjar was a supporter of Khalistan, an independent Sikh nation sought by some groups. He was the head of the Khalistan Tiger Force, which is designated a terrorist outfit in India.
New Delhi had rejected Canada’s allegations as “absurd and motivated” and said that they were an attempt by Ottawa to divert attention from the fact that it was providing shelter to those threatening India’s sovereignty. India had also ordered Canada to withdraw more than 40 diplomatic staff from the country.
In February, Canada also accused India of trying to influence democratic processes in Canada. India’s external affairs ministry had responded saying that the allegations were “baseless”.
In May, the Canadian Police arrested four men on the suspicion of having murdered Nijjar. They were charged with first-degree murder and conspiracy. The police said at the time that they were investigating connections between the accused persons and the Indian government.
India’s External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar had said that New Delhi was awaiting details about the arrests in the case. He also claimed that Canada had not provided evidence of the Indian government’s alleged involvement in the assassination of Nijjar, despite repeated requests. “It is their political compulsion in Canada to blame India,” Jaishankar had said.
On June 6, Trudeau congratulated Modi on the outcome of the Lok Sabha elections.
“Canada stands ready to work with [Modi’s] government to advance the relationship between our nations’ peoples—anchored to human rights, diversity, and the rule of law,” a message posted by Trudeau’s office on social media platform X quoted him as saying.
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