The Canadian government has clarified a recent controversial report that sought to establish a link between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the killing of Khalistani terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar, terming the media report as “speculative and inaccurate”.
“On October 14th, because of a significant and ongoing threat to public safety, the RCMP and officials took the extraordinary step of making public accusations of serious criminal activity in Canada perpetrated by agents of the Government of India,” the government said.
“The Government of Canada has not stated, nor is it aware of evidence, linking Prime Minister Modi, Minister Jaishankar, or NSA Doval to the serious criminal activity within Canada. Any suggestion to the contrary is both speculative and inaccurate,” it added while reacting to the media report.
What did the media report say?
This comes after The Globe and Mail, a reputed newspaper in Canada published an article linking PM Modi and NSA Doval into the controversy around the killing of Khalistani terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar in June last year.
The report had cited an unnamed security official claiming that “Canadian security agencies believe that PM Modi “knew about Nijjar’s killing”.
Notably, Nijjar’s killing has led to a diplomatic row between the two countries with Trudeau himself alleging that the Indian officials were involved in the incident while New Delhi has rejected the claims.
India’s response
India rejected The Globe and Mail report and termed it a “smear campaign”.
“Such ludicrous statements made to a newspaper purportedly by a Canadian government source should be dismissed with the contempt they deserve. Smear campaigns like this only further damage our already strained ties,” MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal had said.
(With inputs from PTI)
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