E-Paper
Indian high commissioner Sanjay Verma reveals how Khalistani terrorists influence students in Canada
India's recalled High Commissioner explained how Indian students are influence by Khalistani terrorists in Canada with the offer of money and food.
India's recalled high commissioner Sanjay Verma on Thursday opened up about how Khalistani terrorists in Canada operate and recruit Indian students, warning parents to keep a check on them and guide them away from “unwise choices.” In an interview with NDTV, Sanjay Verma said Khalistani operatives usually lure Indian students in Canada with the promise of stable money.
Sanjay Verma further said Indian students in Canada “should be aware of their surrounding” and resist radicalisation attempts by Khalistani terrorists and extremists. He urged parents of students living in Canada to "please talk to them regularly and try to understand" their situation.
Explaining how these terrorists recruit Indian students, the Indian envoy told NDTV, “How this (Khalistani terrorists' outreach to Indian students in Canada) works is... given the condition of that economy there are few jobs... so students are offered money and food, and this is how Khalistani terrorists and extremists influence them with nefarious plans.”
He added these students are then persuaded into taking photographs and video proofs of them protesting outside Indian diplomatic buildings in Canada, usually shouting anti-India slogans and insulting the Tricolour.
"Then they are told to go seek asylum... because their version will be, 'If I go back to India now, I will be punished...' and there have been cases of such students being given asylum," he said.
Read more: Jaishankar jabs Canada for ‘double standards’ on handling pro-Khalistan elements
Appealing to the parents to keep a check on their children in Canada, Sanjay Verma said that there are all kinds of negative forces active in the country, pushing Indian students in the wrong direction.
Verma's warning to Indian parents comes at a time when the relations between India and Canada remain tense, after repeated claims Prime Minister Justin Trudeau that “agents” associated to the Indian government are conspiring with criminal gangs.
India had earlier this month "strongly" rejected a diplomatic communication from Canada suggesting that the Indian High Commissioner and other diplomats were "persons of interest" into killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a Canadian citizen designated as a terrorist by India and termed it as "preposterous imputations" and part of the political agenda of the Justin Trudeau government.
