India’s representative in Canada says diplomatic channels are being used to “try to find solutions, and a resolution” to their conflict, recently aggravated by the arrest of Indian nationals suspected of being the agents behind the assassination of a Sikh leader.
“The origin of what is happening now is the lack of understanding of India’s concerns,” immediately criticized the High Commissioner of India to Canada Sanjay Kumar Verma, invited to speak before the Council on International Relations of Montreal (CORIM) on Tuesday.
According to his vision of things, which he summarized in ambiguous terms in less than five minutes, Canada would not have respected the principle of “respect for the cultural diversity of each person” in its relations with India. He then moved on to the “positive” theme of growth prospects for international trade during the remainder of the half-hour discussion.
His speech came as three Indian nationals, two aged 22 and one aged 28, were due to appear in a British Columbia court on Tuesday. The three men were arrested in Alberta on Friday, and are charged with the premeditated murder of Sikh leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar in June 2023.
The Prime Minister of Canada, Justin Trudeau, directly accused the Indian government of having sponsored the assassination on its soil, citing “credible” allegations from its intelligence service in the House of Commons in September. News of this accusation went around the world.
High Commissioner Verma referred to this “unfortunate crime” saying it had no connection with his country, since the victim held Canadian citizenship and India does not allow dual citizenship. He still invited Indians living in Canada to come back and get involved in Indian elections if they want to have a say in the country’s politics.
India discusses its security
The whole affair amplified a major diplomatic conflict with India, with which relations were already tense. India’s foreign minister responded Saturday to the arrests by saying Canada had “a political obsession […] to accuse India.
For his part, Sanjay Kumar Verma called the news in the media on the subject “a bit colorful”, while agreeing that “a few facts” are correctly reported, without specifying which ones.
“As far as I am concerned, my concerns are national security threats [pour l’Inde] which emanate from the territory of Canada. These threats mainly come from Canadian citizens. These are my two red lines,” warned the diplomat.
He alluded to discussions between the two governments taking place behind closed doors, without revealing their content. The High Commissioner then went into the fine details of statistics on trade between Canada and India, in a discussion with Rahul Ravie, director of the MBA program at Concordia University, which took place entirely in English.
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