OTTAWA: Reaffirming his allegation of Indian involvement in the killing of Sikh separatist leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar on his home soil, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Sunday accused New Delhi of violating the Vienna Convention by “kicking out” 40 diplomats at a time when his country had reached out to the former and other global partners to get to the bottom of the murder.
Issuing a warning, the Canadian PM said if bigger countries can “violate international law without consequences”, it will make the world “more dangerous”.
Speaking to the reporters in Ottawa on Saturday, Trudeau said, “From the very beginning when we learned of credible allegations that agents of the Indian government were involved in the killing of a Canadian citizen on Canadian soil, we reached out to India to ask them to work with us in getting to the bottom of the matter. We also reached out to our friends and allies like the US and others to work on this really serious violation of international law and of the sovereignty of a democracy.”
“This is something that we are taking very seriously. We will continue to work with all partners as law enforcement and investigative agencies continue to do their work. Canada is a country that will always stand up for the rule of law because if might starts to make right again, if bigger countries can violate international law without consequences, then the whole world gets more dangerous for everyone,” he added.
The Canadian PM’s remarks came close on the heels of US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken’s statement that Washington wants to see Canada “moving its investigation (into the killing of Hardeep Nijjar) forward” and India “needs to help make it happen”.
Trudeau, however, added that Canada wants to “work constructively” with India, adding that Ottawa “will always stand up to the rule of law”.