NEW DELHI: Indian envoy to Canada Sanjay Kumar Verma has said Sikh groups in Canada who call for separation of their homeland from India are crossing “a big red line” that New Delhi sees as a matter of national security.
“Indians will decide the fate of India, not foreigners,” Verma told the Montreal Council on Foreign Relations on Tuesday, reported CTV News, Canada. Gurpatwant Singh Pannun-led Sikhs for Justice had demanded the cancellation of his lecture. In his first public remarks since the arrest of three Indian nationals in the case of Hardeep Singh Nijjar’s killing, the High Commissioner seemed to link the case to domestic crime. “Foreigners having, if I can call it, (an) evil eye on the territorial integrity of India that is a big red line for us. We are ready to sit down at the table any day, and we are doing that,” he said.
A few hours earlier, Canadian Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly stood by allegations that the Indian Government was complicit in Nijjar’s killing last year. “We stand by the allegations that a Canadian was killed on Canadian soil by Indian agents,” said Joly, refusing to comment further. “The investigation by the RCMP is being done. I won’t comment further and no other officials from our government will comment further,” she said.