‘Simply not true’: India rejects Canada PM Justin Trudeau's evidence claims, say reports

ANI, citing unnamed sources, reported that Canada's approach, since the beginning, has been to make “vague accusations” and put the burden of denial on India.

Sources in the the Indian government have rejected the claims of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau who accused India of backing criminal activities in Canada in a fresh statement on Monday amid a massive diplomatic row, news agency PTI reported.

Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, left, and India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi. (AP file)

The unnamed government officials also claimed that “assertions by Canadian officials that Canada presented credible evidence to India in the Sikh extremist Hardeep Singh Nijjar case is simply not true”.

“It is absurd that after engaging Indian High Commissioner to Canada over last year, the Canadian government now chooses to target him,” PTI quoted the sources as saying.

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News agency ANI, citing unnamed sources, reported that Canada's approach, since the beginning, has been to make “vague accusations” and put the burden of denial on India.

The sources further said Justin Trudeau, during the press conference was saying, “the same old things for the same old reasons”.

Sources said, "The central assertion from all Canadian officials is that credible evidence has been presented to India. This was also repeated by their Cd'A to the press. This is simply not true. From the very beginning, the Canadian approach has been to make vague accusations and put the burden of denial on India."

“At the RCMP press briefing, assertions were made about connections of certain individuals to India. In no case were any specifics provided. There was also talk about holding people accountable. But it was never made clear who and for what,” one of the sources said.

Citing evidence from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), Justin Trudeau claimed that Indian government officials were involved in activities that pose threat to public safety.

"As the RCMP Commissioner stated earlier they have clear and compelling evidence that agents of the Government of India have engaged in and continue to engage in activities that pose a significant threat to public safety. This includes clandestine information-gathering techniques, coercive behaviour targeting South Asian Canadians, and involvement in a dozen threatening and violating acts, including murder. This is unacceptable," Trudeau alleged while addressing the press conference.

He further claimed that Canadian law enforcement had "made several attempts" to work with Indian counterparts on these matters but were "repeatedly refused."

The diplomatic fallout comes after allegations by Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) Commissioner Mike Duheme, who claimed they have information on certain criminal activity carried out by agents of the Indian government.

"Over the past few years and more recently, law enforcement agencies in Canada have successfully investigated and charged a significant number of individuals for their direct involvement in homicides, extortions & other criminal acts of violence. In addition, there have been well over a dozen credible imminent threats to life which have led to the conduct of duty to warn, by law enforcement with members of South Asian community and specifically, members of the pro-Khalistan movement," Duheme said.

The RCMP further claimed that investigations have revealed that Indian diplomats and consular officials based in Canada leveraged their official positions to engage in clandestine activities, such as collecting information for the Government of India, either directly or through their proxies; and other individuals who acted voluntarily or through coercion.

India on Monday expelled six Canadian diplomats hours after it summoned Canada's Charge d'Affaires Stewart Wheeler and conveyed that the "baseless targeting" of the Indian High Commissioner and other diplomats and officials in Canada was completely unacceptable.