Prime Minister Justin Trudeau sat in the same room as the Indian prime minister for the first time since he publicly accused Narendra Modi’s government of involvement in the assassination of a Canadian Sikh activist and the subsequent arrest of an Indian national in British Columbia.
Trudeau and Modi were at the same table during a G7 outreach session in Italy on Friday. Video footage showed them sitting about six seats away from each other. India is one of the countries invited to sit on the sidelines of this year’s summit of the major advanced democratic economies.
Modi has held a series of bilateral meetings with world leaders including British Chancellor Rishi Sunak, French President Emmanuel Macron and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, but is not scheduled to meet with Trudeau on Friday, according to Trudeau’s official itinerary.
Trudeau last met Modi in person during the tense G20 summit in India in September 2023. Returning from a trip abroad that month, Trudeau spoke in the House of Commons and accused the Indian government of involvement in the brazen shooting of Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar.
Earlier this month, Trudeau Blessed Regarding Prime Minister Modi’s re-election victory.
“Canada stands ready to work with his government to advance a relationship between our two peoples that is rooted in human rights, diversity and the rule of law,” he said at the time.
A few days later, Modi Reply to XHe expressed his gratitude to Prime Minister Trudeau for his congratulations.
“India looks forward to working with Canada based on mutual understanding and respect for each other’s concerns,” he wrote.
The Modi government denies the allegations
Nijjar was shot dead in a brazen attack in the parking lot of a Sikh temple in Surrey, British Columbia, in June 2023 by masked gunmen in a pickup truck.
Nijjar supported the creation of a Sikh homeland in the form of a separate state of Khalistan. He was considered a “terrorist” by the Indian government and accused of leading a radical separatist group, charges his supporters deny.
“Canadian security agencies are actively pursuing credible allegations about potential links between Indian government agents and Nijjar’s murder,” Trudeau said.
Since then, four Indian nationals — Karan Brar, Kamalpreet Singh, Karanpreet Singh and Amandeep Singh — have been arrested. He was arrested last month He was charged in connection with Nijjar’s murder.
Modi’s government has denied allegations that it ordered the killing on Canadian soil. External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar initially called Canada’s claims “absurd” and accused the country of harboring violent extremists.
Report warns of Indian political interference in Canada
The allegations have dealt a blow to already fragile bilateral relations between India and Canada, which have deteriorated further over the last week.
According to a shocking report written by a bipartisan committee of Canadian parliamentarians on foreign interference, India The second greatest foreign threat to Canadian democracy Second only to China.
The report contained the sternest warning yet against Indian attempts to interfere in Canadian politics.
“India is seeking to cultivate relationships with various conscious and unconscious individuals in Canadian society with the intent of exerting inappropriate Indian influence at all levels of government, particularly to stifle or discredit criticism of the Indian government,” the report said.
The heavily redacted report also said intelligence suggested “India has active proxies who are actively seeking ways to advance Indian interests by surveilling and trying to influence politicians.”
One memo said CSIS had information showing that Indian agents had allegedly “repeatedly transferred funds from India to politicians at all levels of government in exchange for political favors, including raising issues in Congress.”
At a press conference on Wednesday ahead of the G7, Indian Foreign Minister Vinay Mohan Kwatra did not say whether Modi and Trudeau would hold bilateral meetings at the summit.
“The main issue with Canada is that it is giving political space to anti-India forces that advocate extremism and violence and we have repeatedly conveyed our deep concern to them and we expect them to take decisive action,” he told reporters.
Roland Paris, a former foreign policy adviser to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and now a professor of international affairs at the University of Ottawa, said relations between the two countries are “strained for obvious reasons.”
“It’s also important for Canada to keep the channels of communication open with India because India remains an important partner in other areas,” he told CBC News in an interview ahead of the summit.
