The US is "deeply concerned" over accusations by Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau linking Indian government agents to the murder of a Khalistani leader in British Columbia in June, the White House said. Justin Trudeau said that there are “credible allegations of a potential link” between Indian government agents and the killing of Khalistani leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar in June. The claim was rejected by the Indian side as “absurd and motivated”.
Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a Canadian citizen who advocated for the creation of a separate Sikh state in the Punjab region of India, was fatally shot in his vehicle in June by two masked gunmen outside the Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara temple in Surrey, British Columbia. Nijjar, who was born in India but based in Canada, was president of the temple. He was 45.
Trudeau, speaking in the House of Commons on Monday afternoon, did not detail the allegations. He said he had taken his “deep concerns” to top Indian security and intelligence officials and also conveyed them “personally and directly” and “in no uncertain terms” to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the Group of 20 summit this month.Any involvement of a foreign government in the killing of a Canadian citizen on Canadian soil is an unacceptable violation of our sovereignty,” he said. “It is contrary to the fundamental rules by which free, open and democratic societies conduct themselves.”The Indian Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement on Tuesday that it rejected Canada’s allegations.