Khalistani separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar.
Credit: X/@BCSikhs
Owing to a string of events that have transpired over the last few years, the bilateral relationship between India and Canada have taken a rather bitter turn. Diplomatic ties between the two nations soured significantly after the assassination of Sikh separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar on June 18, 2023, in Canada's Surrey.
Adding to the controversy surrounding the incident, the head of the People's Party of Canada Maxime Bernier - who is also the country's opposition leader - on Thursday asserted that Nijjar was 'somehow granted Canadian citizenship in 2007', and tagged him a 'foreign terrorist'.
In a post on social media platform 'X' (formerly Twitter), Bernier said, "One myth should be dispelled though: That the central figure in this controversy, Hardeep Singh Nijjar, the Khalistani militant who was murdered last year, was a Canadian."
"He was actually a foreign terrorist who used fraudulent documents to claim asylum in Canada several times starting in 1997. His claims were rejected but he was nevertheless allowed to stay in this country and was somehow granted citizenship in 2007," he added.
Bernier labelled this as an administrative mistake and claimed that Nijjar ought to have been sent back with thousands of other people who had utilized 'false asylum claimants' to enter and settle in Canada.
"Nijjar wasn’t a Canadian. We should perhaps posthumously take away his citizenship to right this administrative error. He should have been deported after his first fake asylum claim, like the hundreds of thousands of fake asylum claimants who are in Canada right now," he said.
Sharing his views on accusations against Indian diplomats in aiding criminal activities in Canada, Bernier pointed out that if the allegations turn out to be accurate, they should be addressed in a 'very serious' manner. The Canadian opposition leader also took a dig at Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, claiming that he is 'using this crisis to shift attention from other controversies.'
"If true, allegations made by the RCMP and the Liberal government that Indian diplomats participated in criminal activities on our territory are very serious and should be dealt with. So far however, we haven’t been given any proof. And Trudeau is clearly using this crisis to divert the attention from other controversies," he wrote in his post.
"All this is happening because Canada has for decades deliberately invited these foreigners and their tribal conflicts into our country. We should recognize this major blunder and work with the government of India to find solutions instead of jeopardizing our relations with a rising world power and an important ally over this issue," he further added.