Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Monday accused Indian diplomats of backing a pattern of criminal harassment and violence against Canadians, escalating a dispute that began last year, when he suggested Indian agents were involved in the murder of a Canadian Sikh activist in British Columbia.
Canada expelled six officials earlier on Monday after it said India refused to waive their diplomatic immunity for questioning over what Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs Melanie Joly called “a number of violent incidents” targeting Canada’s South Asian community, particularly Sikhs.
Denying involvement, India has rebuked Canada and expelled six of its senior diplomats.
Photo: AFP
At a news conference in Ottawa, Trudeau laid out the crux of the Canadian government’s case against India. Hours earlier, on the morning of Canada’s Thanksgiving public holiday, the Royal Mounted Canadian Police held an extraordinary briefing to share with the public the fresh allegations implicating Indian government agents.
“It is obvious that the government of India made a fundamental error in thinking that they could engage in supporting criminal activity against Canadians here on Canadian soil, whether it be murders or extortion or other violent acts,” Trudeau said.
The widening rupture between Canada and India could have implications on trade, immigration and other links between the two countries, particularly if the dispute leads to tit-for-tat sanctions or other retaliatory actions.
Asked if sanctions or other measures beyond expelling officials were being considered, Joly said: “Everything is on the table.”
Trudeau and Joly said they had been in touch with their Indian counterparts, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Minister of Foreign Affairs Subrahmanyam Jaishankar.
Joly said she was also in contact with the foreign ministers of Canada’s Five Eyes intelligence-sharing allies: the US, UK, Australia and New Zealand.
US prosecutors in a separate case have accused an Indian government agent of directing a thwarted plot to assassinate a Sikh separatist and US citizen on US soil.
Trudeau said Canadian officials and agencies have tried to work with India’s government, but its response has been “to deny, to obfuscate, to attack me personally and the integrity of the government of Canada.”
Joly said that the “sitting diplomats” were involved in violent acts that increased after Trudeau’s allegation of India’s possible involvement in the murder last year of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, an activist in the movement for an independent state called Khalistan for Sikhs in the Punjab region. India considered him a terrorist.
India on Monday rejected Canada’s claims and said they were politically motivated by Trudeau, accusing his government of baselessly targeting Indian officials and endangering their safety.
“We have no faith in the current Canadian Government’s commitment to ensure their security,” the Indian Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement.
Tropical Storm Usagi strengthened to a typhoon yesterday morning and remains on track to brush past southeastern Taiwan from tomorrow to Sunday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was approximately 950km east-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost point, the CWA said. It is expected to enter the Bashi Channel and then turn north, moving into waters southeast of Taiwan, it said. The agency said it could issue a sea warning in the early hours of today and a land warning in the afternoon. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was moving at
UPDATED FORECAST: The warning covered areas of Pingtung County and Hengchun Peninsula, while a sea warning covering the southern Taiwan Strait was amended The Central Weather Administration (CWA) at 5:30pm yesterday issued a land warning for Typhoon Usagi as the storm approached Taiwan from the south after passing over the Philippines. As of 5pm, Usagi was 420km south-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost tip, with an average radius of 150km, the CWA said. The land warning covered areas of Pingtung County and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春), and came with an amended sea warning, updating a warning issued yesterday morning to cover the southern part of the Taiwan Strait. No local governments had announced any class or office closures as of press time last night. The typhoon
DISCONTENT: The CCP finds positive content about the lives of the Chinese living in Taiwan threatening, as such video could upset people in China, an expert said Chinese spouses of Taiwanese who make videos about their lives in Taiwan have been facing online threats from people in China, a source said yesterday. Some young Chinese spouses of Taiwanese make videos about their lives in Taiwan, often speaking favorably about their living conditions in the nation compared with those in China, the source said. However, the videos have caught the attention of Chinese officials, causing the spouses to come under attack by Beijing’s cyberarmy, they said. “People have been messing with the YouTube channels of these Chinese spouses and have been harassing their family members back in China,”
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said there are four weather systems in the western Pacific, with one likely to strengthen into a tropical storm and pose a threat to Taiwan. The nascent tropical storm would be named Usagi and would be the fourth storm in the western Pacific at the moment, along with Typhoon Yinxing and tropical storms Toraji and Manyi, the CWA said. It would be the first time that four tropical cyclones exist simultaneously in November, it added. Records from the meteorology agency showed that three tropical cyclones existed concurrently in January in 1968, 1991 and 1992.
RSS