Khalistani terrorist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun acknowledged that his outfit Sikh for Justice (SFJ) was in touch with Canadian PM Justin Trudeau‘s office and shared information against India in the wake of his aide Hardeep Singh Nijjar‘s killing.
In an interview with the Canadian news channel CBC News, Pannun said he provided information to Trudeau “detailing the spying network” of the Indian high commission.
Pannun also said that Canada‘s allegation against India showed Otawa’s “unwavering commitment to justice, rule of law and the national security”.
“Sikh for Justice has been communicating with the Prime Minister’s office for the last two to three years,” Pannun claimed in the interview.
The statement comes after strained diplomatic relations between India and Canada descended several notches lower on Monday after New Delhi expelled six Canadian diplomats hours after it summoned Canada’s Charge d’Affaires Stewart Wheeler.
The action was in response to Trudeau’s claim that their police uncovered evidence of an alleged targeted and worsening campaign against Canadian citizens by agents of the Indian government.
Later, Canada’s foreign ministry announced the expulsion of six Indian diplomats.
India conveyed that the “baseless targeting” of the Indian high commissioner and other diplomats and officials in Canada was completely unacceptable.
In a sharp response, India said Canadian PM Trudeau’s hostility to India has long been in evidence and his government has consciously provided space to violent extremists and terrorists “to harass, threaten and intimidate Indian diplomats and community leaders in Canada”.
The India and Canada ties started to get frosty after Trudeau’s statement last year during a parliamentary address in which he claimed that he had “credible allegations” of India’s hand in the killing of Khalistan terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar.
Nijjar, designated a terrorist by India’s National Investigation Agency in 2020, was shot dead outside a gurdwara in Surrey in June 2023. India strongly denied the allegations, calling them “absurd” and “motivated.”
It also accused Canada of giving space to extremist and anti-India elements in their country.
India on Tuesday strongly refuted Trudeau’s claims, stating that the assertions made by Canadian officials about presenting evidence in the Sikh extremist Hardeep Singh Nijjar case are untrue.