As the relations between India and Canada deteriorated further to a new low following Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's allegations wherein he claimed New Delhi was behind the killing of an extremist leader, pro-Khalistan organisation Sikhs for Justice (SFJ), in a video message, warned Hindus living in Canada and asked them to leave the country as soon as possible.
"Indo-Hindu leave Canada; go to India. You not only support India, but you are also supporting the suppression of speech and expression of pro-Khalistan Sikhs," SFJ’s legal counsel Gurpatwant Singh Pannu said in a video that went viral on social media platforms.
Further, he appealed to all the Sikhs to accumulate in Surrey, Vancouver on October 29 to vote: "Whether Indian High Commissioner Verma is responsible for the assassination of Hardeep Singh Nijjar?"
Notably, Pannu, a top member of Sikhs for Justice, an outlawed organisation in India, was designated as a wanted terrorist in 2020.
Canadian PM Trudeau raised the issue of Nijjar's killing during a bilateral meeting with Modi
The major development between the two nations came as PM Trudeau, who had recently visited New Delhi for the G20 Summit where he held a bilateral meeting with his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi, alleged that Canadian intelligence agencies have "credible" information about the involvement of New Delhi in the killing of Khalistani terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar.
Even, while addressing the Canadian Parliament on Monday, Trudeau claimed that he had raised the issue with PM Modi during their bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the G20 Summit in New Delhi.
Subsequently, Canadian FM announced the expulsion of an Indian diplomat. Soon after her announcement, India released a statement where it condemned the "baseless" allegations levelled by PM Trudeau.
“Such unsubstantiated allegations seek to shift the focus from Khalistani terrorists and extremists, who have been provided shelter in Canada and continue to threaten India’s sovereignty and territorial integrity,” it wrote in a statement issued earlier today.
As the matter turned a diplomatic chaos, Trudeau said he was not trying to provoke New Delhi but rather wanted his Indian counterpart to address the issue properly.
