While India and Canada are still engaged in a diplomatic standoff, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau pointed to Indias growing influence worldwide and said that its “extremely important” that Canada and its allies continue to engage with India.Trudeau said that despite the “credible allegation” of Indias involvement in the shooting of aKhalistani extremist in June this year, Canada is still committed to building closer ties with India. He made this statement while addressing a press conference in Montreal on Thursday.“Canada still committed to build closer ties with India”: Justin Trudeau amid standoffRead @ANI Story | https://t.co/wCrUWQneWU#India #Canada #JustinTrudeau pic.twitter.com/d2PMdawQRI— ANI Digital (@ani_digital) September 29, 2023 India-important geopolitical player: TrudeauHe emphasised Indias growing importance on the world stage and called India an important geopolitical player.“India is a growing economic power and important geopolitical player. And as we presented with our Indo-Pacific strategy, just last year, were very serious about building closer ties with India,” he told reporters.“At the same time, obviously, as a rule of law country, we need to emphasize that India needs to work with Canada to ensure that we get the full facts of this matter,” he added.Trudeau hints at Jaishankar-Blinken meetTrudeau also mentioned the meeting between US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and EAM S Jaishankar that took place on Thursday and said that he got assurance from the US leader that the India-Canada issue would be brought up during discussions.“The Americans have been with us in speaking to the Indian government about how important it is that they be involved in following up on the credible allegations that agents of the Indian government killed a Canadian citizen on Canadian soil,” said Trudeau.“This is something that all democratic countries, all countries that respect the rule of law need to take seriously. We are moving forward in a thoughtful, responsible way anchored in the rule of law with all of our partners including in our approach to the Government of India,” he added.India-Canada rowCanadian PM Justin Trudeau alleged the Indian governments hand in the shooting of a Khalistani extremist Hardeep Singh Nijjar, in the Canadian parliament on Monday last week. He said that Canadian security agencies had been actively pursuing “credible allegations of a potential link” between agents of the Government of India and the killing of NijjarThe two nations have since been in a diplomatic standoff and India has rejected all claims calling it absurd and motivated. Canada had also expelled a senior Indian diplomat from the country which resulted in a tit-for-tat situation where India also asked a Canadian diplomat to leave the country.Notably, PM Trudeau has yet to provide any public evidence to support the claim about the slaying of Hardeep Singh Nijjar.India has also asked its citizens and those who are travelling to Canada to exercise “utmost caution in view of growing anti-India activities and politically-condoned hate crimes and criminal violence” in the country.(With Agency Inputs)
