Amid strained diplomatic ties between New Delhi and Ottawa, Canadian Deputy Foreign Minister David Morrison has said that India’s territorial integrity must be respected, The Indian Express reported on Monday.
At a public hearing of the Foreign Interference Commission in Ottawa on October 4, Morrison said: “There’s one India, and that’s been made very clear.”
The statement came as Canada is home to several organisations that support the demand for of Khalistan, an independent Sikh nation.
The independent commission was set up by the Prime Minister Justin Trudeau-led government in September 2023 to look into alleged meddling by foreign countries, including China and India, in Canada’s general elections in 2019 and 2021.
In September 2023, Trudeau 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. He was the head of the Khalistan Tiger Force, which is designated a terrorist outfit in India.
New Delhi 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.
New Delhi has for long complained that Khalistani outfits are being allegedly given a free rein by Canadian authorities.
On October 4, Morrison told the independent commission that there were “advocates for a Khalistani homeland” in different countries, including in Canada.
He added: “Canada and India are partners going back many decades. India is an increasingly significant global player and Canada is taking account of that in its policies.”
According to Morrison, there was an “upswing in the ties” till the G20 Summit in September 2023. However, Nijjar’s assassination in Canada “set in train a series of events culminating in the expulsion of 41 diplomats”.
Morrison said the two countries had open channels of communication and were continuing to talk even though relations were in a “complicated place”.
In June, Trudeau also met Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the sidelines of the Group of Seven summit in Italy.
After the meeting, the Canadian prime minister said that his government was “committed to working together” with India to deal with some “very important” issues.
He said: “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.”
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