External affairs minister S Jaishankar said that India will wait for the Canadian police to share more information about the three men arrested and charged with the murder of Khalistani separatist terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar.
S Jaishankar said on Saturday that the probe into Nijjar’s death is Canada’s internal matter and has nothing to do with India.
Canadian police charged Karan Brar, 22, Kamalpreet Singh, 22, and Karanpreet Singh, 28, all Indian nationals residing in Edmonton, with first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder.
“(They are) apparently Indians of some kind of gang background… we’ll have to wait for the police to tell us,” Jaishankar said, adding he had seen news of the arrests, according to news outlet Reuters.
“But, as I said, one of our concerns which we have been telling them is that, you know, they have allowed organised crime from India, specifically from Punjab, to operate in Canada,” he further added.
Jaishankar’s responses came during an interaction with journalists in Odisha capital Bhubaneswar.
The ties between India and Canada came under severe strain following Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s allegations in September last year of the “potential” involvement of Indian agents in the killing of Nijjar. India has dismissed Trudeau’s charges as “absurd” and “motivated.”
Jaishankar repeated India’s stance when journalists asked him why Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau thought India was responsible for Nijjar’s murder.
“Canada did not give any proof. They do not share any evidence with us in certain cases, police agencies also do not cooperate with us. It is their political compulsion in Canada to blame India. As elections are coming in Canada, they indulge in vote bank politics,” the external affairs minister said.
Sanjay Verma, India’s high commissioner to Canada, said that India hopes to get regular updates from Canadian authorities regarding the three arrested Indians.
“I understand that the arrests have been made as a result of investigations conducted by the relevant Canadian law enforcement agencies. This issue is internal to Canada and therefore we have no comments to offer in this regard,” Verma added.
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