India’s approach to Canada always collaborative: Indian envoy to Canada
On the US indictment that alleged an Indian official directed the plot to kill Sikhs for Justice (SFJ) leader Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, and how its results would impact the case in Canada, Verma said, “While I am not competent to speak on what is happening between US and India, I can refer you to what the spokesman of the Ministry of External Affairs said earlier — we would await decisions by the High Level Enquiry Committee for following up.”
India’s approach to Canada Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s allegations that there were “credible allegations” of a link between Indian agents and the death of pro-Khalistan separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar has “always been collaborative,” but the core issue was that of the “unfriendly” posture of Canada in allowing its soil to be used for secessionism, said India’s High Commissioner to Ottawa Sanjay Kumar Verma, in an interview with HT.
“If you look at our own approach towards resolving this issue, it has always been collaborative. What we have been saying right from the beginning is that unless you share something specific and relevant with us, what do we look into? How do we help you? So our approach right from the beginning was to deal with the entire issue through diplomatic channels, but at the same time, to have the information which could be relevant to this purpose, said Verma.
On the US indictment that alleged an Indian official directed the plot to kill Sikhs for Justice (SFJ) leader Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, and how its results would impact the case in Canada, Verma said, “While I am not competent to speak on what is happening between US and India, I can refer you to what the spokesman of the Ministry of External Affairs said earlier — we would await decisions by the High Level Enquiry Committee for following up.”
On relations between Canada and India, Verma said that Canada was aware of India’s concerns, which is that the former was giving space to extremists, which were using the space to issue secessionist calls against India.
“No country in the world, which is a responsible member of the United Nations, should allow its soil to be used by its own citizens to dismember a friendly country. Secessionist calls coming out of Canada, in the context of India, is certainly something which is unfriendly. So unless that core issue is tackled, I don’t think we’ll be satisfied diplomatically or politically,” he said.
“And, it’s not a big ask. It’s an as which every country in the world, every responsible global player in the world, has committed to,” he added.
On how much the Nijjar killing has affected India’s relationship with Canada, Verma said trade, investment, immigration were all on a “positive track.”
“If you look at our trade relationship, that’s doing very well. Investment is on a positive track. If you look at the people-to-people relationship, again a positive track. If you look at new Indian immigrants coming to Canada, absolutely on positive track. So, I would say there is more positivity than one issue which has been not so comfortable with both sides. I do not see it as a as a relationship which is marked by negativity. It’s a relationship which has got most of the elements as positive,” said Verma.
