NEW DELHI: Recalled Indian envoy to Canada, Sanjay Verma, on Thursday slammed the Canadian legal system for being too “lenient” for the “Khalistani terrorists and extremists” and providing refuge to them. Terming Canada‘s approach “the pits,” Verma said that the Trudeau-led nation had back-stabbed India.
He questioned the probe process in Hardeep Singh Nijjar murder case by raising doubts about the disappearance of Goldy Brar’s name from “wanted list” after India suggested his name along with Lawrence Bishnoi’s in the Nijjar case.
‘Khalistanis shout the most, get most attention by Canada’
Verma said that even though a small part of the Sikh population were Khalistanis, the group had vocalized its demands strongly enough to attract political attention.
“Just a handful, about 10,000 people, of Sikhs in Canada are hard-line Khalistanis, made Khalistan a business,” he said, accusing the Canadian politicians of supporting the separatists for electoral gains.
“A child that cries the most gets fed first by the mother. Similarly, even though they are only a handful, they shout the most and get the most attention from Canadian political backers,” he added.
Verma said that the “hard-line” Khalistanis were involved in human trafficking and collecting funds through gurdwaras for “nefarious business.”
“Khalistani terrorists, extremists found refuge in Canada due to lenient Canadian legal system,” Verma told Press Trust of India.
He condemned the killing of Nijjar saying that even though he was a designated terrorist for India, “but anything extra-judicial wrong in democracy; truth must come out.”
‘Canada’s approach the pits’
“This is the pits. This is the most unprofessional approach to a bilateral relation. There are diplomatic tools available in the hands of a diplomat. Those tools could have been used,” he said.
Verma called Canada’s move to name him and other Indian diplomats in the Nijjar probe “persons of interest” the most “unprofessional approach to bilateral relations.”
Recollecting the day he was told that he had been named in Nijjar probe, Verma said there had been a request to waive off his diplomatic immunity and that of his colleagues.
“So, I and my deputy high commissioner, and after a bit of conversation they told me that I, along with five other diplomats and officials, are ‘persons of interest’ in the inquiry of killing of (Hardeep Singh) Nijjar. And, therefore ,there was a request to waive off my diplomatic immunity as well as diplomatic immunity of my colleagues, so that we could be interrogated by RCMP which is the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the investigating agency there,” he said.
“So, I took that as a message. We diplomats are messengers in any case, so we sent that message back home for advising us what to do,” he added.
A Washington Post report had said that that Canada expelled six Indian diplomats, including Verma, but India maintained he was recalled. Later, India had announced that it had expelled six Canadian diplomats, including the deputy high commissioner and acting high commissioner.
Verma has refuted all allegations by Canada of being involved in the killing of Nijjar and has called the move “politically motivated.” Meanwhile, foreign ministry too has dismissed the allegations calling it “preposterous” ascribing them to “political agenda of the Trudeau Government that is centered around vote bank politics.”