'New 'Delhi's action absolutely unacceptable': Trudeau as India-Cananda tension soar

Justin Trudeau accuses Indian agents of threatening safety in Canada.

After India ordered the expulsion of six Canadian diplomats, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Tuesday accused the Indian government of "coercive behaviour and threatening and violent acts".

Trudeau said that Canadian officials had made efforts to collaborate with Indian authorities, but these efforts were rejected. His comments came following a report by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP). Trudeau said the RCMP has "clear and compelling evidence" that agents of the Indian government are involved in activities threatening public safety, including clandestine operations and coercion targeting South Asian Canadians, further escalating the diplomatic row between the two countries. This is why this weekend Canadian officials took an extraordinary step; they met with Indian officials to share RCMP evidence which concluded six agents of the Government of India are persons of interest in criminal activities. Despite repeated requests to the Government of India, it decided not to cooperate,” he said.

Trudeau said that Canada earlier reached out to India to seek cooperation with the probe. "Our first choice to the government of India [was] to say, we know this has happened, work with us to fix this," he said. According to the Canadian Prime Minister, India's response was one of denial and avoidance. “The Indian government had made a fundamental error in thinking that they could engage in supporting criminal activities against Canadians here on Canadian soil, be it murder or extortion. This is absolutely unacceptable,” Trudeau said.

Trudeu said Canada always defended the rule of law and the fundamental principles on which free and democratic societies are based.  “I know the events of the past year and today’s revelations have shaken many Canadians, particularly those in Indo-Canadian and Sikh communities. Many of you are angry, upset, and frightened. I get that. This shouldn’t happen. Canada and India have a long and storied history rooted in strong people-to-people ties and business investments, but we cannot abide by what we are seeing right now. Canada fully respects the sovereignty and territorial integrity of India, and we expect India to do the same for us,” he said.

He stressed the importance of Canada's ties with India, noting that it is a "country with which we have deep historical people-to-people business ties”.

India and Canada each expelled the other's ambassador and five other top diplomats, after New Delhi said its envoy had been named among "persons of interest" in pro-Khalistan leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar’s murder in British Columbia.Nijjar's murder. India said it was withdrawing its six diplomats from Canada, but Ottawa said it had served them notices of expulsion. Tensions have been simmering since the 2023 murder after Trudeau said there were "credible allegations" linking Indian intelligence services to the crime.