India-Canada row: Former Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh slammed Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for his allegations about India's role in the killing of Khalistani terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar. In an opinion piece published in the newspaper TheIndianExpress (behind paywall), Captain Amarinder Singh talked about how he handed over a list of 9 terrorists to Justin Trudeau during his visit to India in 2018, but the Canadian PM chose to ignore it.
As per the former Chief Minister, the list included the names of nine A-category terrorists and he requested action against them.
“When I met Trudeau as Chief Minister of Punjab on behalf of the Government of India in February 2018 at Amritsar, I handed over a list of nine A-category terrorists to him for action,” he wrote. “But the Canadian government chose to ignore the list completely.”
Amarinder Singh said that he was not surprised by the allegations leveled by the Canadian Prime Minister as "he plays to the extremist gallery”. He described the whole situation as a "classic case of the pot calling the kettle black," and asserted that Canada harbored anti-India elements.
The former chief minister questioned Canada government's response to the attack on Indian consulates and Hindu places of worship in Canada. He dismissed the Canadian government's excuse of "freedom of expression" for acts of subversion.
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Amarinder Singh mentioned the low approval ratings of the Canadian PM as the motivation for his action and said that his minority government is supported by the New Democratic Party led by Jagmeet Singh who is known to support the demands of Khalistan terrorists.
He also compared the Pakistan and Canada model of patronage to anti-India forces and urged the government of India to intensify international pressure on Canada to hand over terrorists involved in crimes on Indian soil.
"Pakistan may be doing it more discreetly for fear of international repercussions, Canada is doing it openly in the name of "liberal" values."
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