India-Canada Diplomatic Standoff: Know What are The Reasons Behind It | The Nijjar Issue
The diplomatic tension between India and Canada has reached new heights, with both countries expelling diplomats and engaging in a heated exchange of accusations. At the center of the dispute is the Murder of Khalistani leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar, with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau suggesting India's involvement in the assassination. Canada claims the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) has compelling evidence pointing to Indian agents' role in clandestine operations targeting South Asian Canadians. India has firmly denied these allegations, accusing Canada of harboring Khalistani extremists. The standoff has escalated, disrupting long-standing ties between the two nations and raising concerns within the Indo-Canadian community. As both sides dig in, the future of India-Canada relations remains uncertain. Watch this special interview with Terry Milewski, Senior Journalist & Author, Ottawa.
#IndiaCanadaTensions #NijjarMurderCase #DiplomaticRow #JustinTrudeau #KhalistaniIssue #IndianDiplomatsExpelled #CanadaIndiaRelations #NijjarKilling #GeopoliticalCrisis #IndiaCanadaStandoff #RCMPEvidence #ModiTrudeauTensions #KhalistanConflict #SouthAsianTies
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#IndiaCanadaTensions #NijjarMurderCase #DiplomaticRow #JustinTrudeau #KhalistaniIssue #IndianDiplomatsExpelled #CanadaIndiaRelations #NijjarKilling #GeopoliticalCrisis #IndiaCanadaStandoff #RCMPEvidence #ModiTrudeauTensions #KhalistanConflict #SouthAsianTies
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NewsTranscript
00:00Hello and welcome to this special broadcast as the clock has just struck and the development
00:06I'm sure is giving sleepless nights to both the sides. To discuss what is transpiring between
00:12New Delhi and Ottawa, today we are joined by Terry Malewski, senior journalist and author.
00:17The name of his book, Blood for Blood, 50 Years of the Global Khalistan Project,
00:23needs no introduction, neither does Terry too, because we have seen him on One India earlier as
00:29well. Terry, welcome to One India once again. Thanks for the invitation. Thank you, Terry. Terry,
00:35as I mentioned earlier, it seems history repeats itself. With your extensive research on the
00:41Khalistan movement, we spoke about this earlier as well, how do you see the Niger issue impacting
00:48now the broader contours of India-Canada diplomatic relationships, which is now in
00:54tatters officially, especially in the light of the past tensions over Khalistani extremism?
01:01Well, it's proved me wrong again. That is to say that I thought that it couldn't get much worse.
01:08And yes, I was wrong again. It has gotten worse. Now we're at the level of excelling
01:14the top diplomats. And so what does this tell us? It tells us that both sides are taking this
01:22very seriously. It gives the lie in some ways to what both are saying. Both have failed in
01:33their different ways. Very briefly stated, I would say that Trudeau has not just failed to produce
01:41evidence to back up his allegations, which was the origin of the problem the first time around
01:47a year ago, but also he's made it worse by introducing new allegations, at least this
01:56is according to the Indian account, suggesting not just that we're involved with this and got
02:05paid by somebody to do with the Indian intelligence services, but that the senior diplomats were
02:10implicated. And that they are now to be considered persons of interest in the investigation, which is
02:18a reckless accusation. If indeed, I repeat, we only know this from Indian sources, you can believe
02:26them or not. And it's a reckless assertion because I, for one, having studied this case
02:37and looked at the evidence laid out in the American indictment of the murder for hire plot
02:43organized by employees of Indian intelligence agencies, it looks to me as though they didn't
02:52need any senior diplomats to be even in the know, involved in the plot. Why would that
03:01make any sense? Because that lays out by the account of the U.S. Department of Justice,
03:10the FBI wasn't really in the business to lay out how it seems to them that it was a simple matter
03:20of an Indian intelligence official hiring a guy to organize a gangster hitman to go after
03:30calisthenics in North America to include the conferencing for noon of seats for justice and
03:37how they've seen Nidia. So much for my brief take on where Canada has failed. They're
03:46making allegations or so it seems, and I don't think they're going to be sustained in court.
03:53And I've seen no evidence that, for example, the high commissioner in Ottawa, Indian high
03:58commissioner, on the other hand, we don't hear from the Indian side. We hear how terrible Trudeau
04:08is and we hear the Indian media generally supportive of their prime minister,
04:17chiming in to say that Trudeau is an idiot and he's going to fall and it's all his fault.
04:26And he has, he's acting on some agenda with the United States,
04:33India, and these sort of machinations, all fantastic. What I do not hear from the Indian
04:41side is how to please the actual accusation issue, which is why am I not hearing you deny
04:52that the individual described in the American indictment was indeed in cahoots with gangsters
04:59to commit murder against both Panu and Nidia, in Nidia's case successfully.
05:06They're talking about other issues. So I think there's room to doubt, plenty of room to doubt,
05:11veracity of both sides. Right. Just to make a point here, Tevi, that this evening itself,
05:21New Delhi issued a statement, not exactly mentioning that, you know, about the involvement
05:28or not, but the allegations made by Ottawa, they have called it preposterous, they have called it,
05:35you know, baseless, and they have tried to at least condemn it in the strongest possible terms,
05:43as far as New Delhi is concerned. Now, this whole scenario, Tevi, as you mentioned,
05:48you know, appears to be straight out of a Hollywood or maybe a Bollywood flick, that one
05:55government spy tries to eliminate the enemy of the state, you know, on a foreign land. What
06:03evidences to this effect has so far been found in Canada or through the Canadian authorities
06:11that could be possibly be admissible in any court of law in any part of the world?
06:18Well, there is allegedly, according to leaks, I cannot quote a source, but leaks,
06:27let's say they've been allowed to stand by the government, and nobody's disputing that there
06:32are wiretaps. There are Canadian origin wiretaps, that is to say, wiretaps in place to put people
06:38in Canada, which substantiate the charge that they were in cahoots. How shall I put it? That
06:47they were at least talking to and involved with an intelligence agent, same guy who was alleged
06:55in the American indictment. There is also the RCMP, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police,
07:02not a political organization, don't respond to political instructions, as you have seen,
07:07by the fact that they've rather embarrassed the Prime Minister by not letting the Prime
07:12Minister's allegations go through, and these high officials weren't involved in the matter.
07:16Yet, if you say that, when and if, you get evidence of that. But the RCMP have,
07:24though, they don't know who paid them, they don't know the higher-ups yet,
07:29they have arrested and charged four Canadian origin, young punks, basically gangsters in their
07:3520s, nobodies with guns in their pocket, who allegedly came here as students but never did
07:46much studying except about where to get a gun. These individuals may have a story to tell,
07:56may want to make a deal, we don't know. Either that will come to trial, and we may learn more
08:03about that, or the case of Nikhil Gupta, the Indian national, who, according to the FBI,
08:11was in cahoots with gangsters in New York to assassinate both Panun and Nijjar as part of the
08:17same plot. So, it's not that we won't ever find out, we just have to be a little bit patient,
08:24which in my business, we're not. Absolutely, Terry. India has been
08:29asking for, as I mentioned, that it's been exactly one year to date that we spoke, and it was exactly
08:34the same topic, other than Prime Minister Trudeau's plane getting stuck in New Delhi when
08:41he was here last year to attend G20. That was something. But, having said that, you know,
08:48as far as the evidences are concerned, as far as Mr Verma is concerned, Mr Gupta, I believe,
08:54being connected with Panun and Nijjar both, I think one year time is a substantial amount of time,
09:02and more concrete evidences are required, definitely. And you are right when you talk
09:09about the students who did nothing except for wielding guns, whether Canada is happy to keep
09:16them, whether Canada is okay with these Talistani sentiments getting louder in that part of the
09:23world. What reasons do you foresee, though, for Mr Trudeau to actually give shelter to them,
09:32first of all, and secondly, give them tacit support, which definitely has a very anti-India
09:39overtones? Well, there are, as I said earlier, a lot of conspiracy theories about his
09:44alleged geo-strategic plan in cahoots with the CIA to undermine India's national sovereignty.
09:55I wish they had a plan. I mean, they had no plan. I would love it if they had some kind of coherent
10:01plan. But as we've seen repeatedly in Trudeau's dealings with India,
10:06the plan is lacking. He doesn't seem to know quite what he's doing. The 2018 visit to India,
10:12as you well know, was pretty much a diplomatic disaster. And here's another. Well, what does
10:20he say his motivation is? His motivation, he says, is that he can't have foreign nationals coming
10:29over here to commit murder and breaking Canadian law on Canadian soil. We can't tolerate that. What
10:36kind of prime minister would I be if I heard about that from our intelligence services? I said,
10:41yeah, let's sweep it under the rug. Let's not do anything. Let's not say anything. Let's keep it
10:46quiet because we don't really mind if India comes here and kills Karlistan. He would have hell to
10:56pay because he does anyway. He's almost certainly in line to lose the next election, probably next
11:02year. So he's probably finished as prime minister anyway if Canadians have anything to do with it,
11:08and they have a lot. So I think he thinks that he is defending Canadian sovereignty
11:19in a principled sense. But I don't think he's made sufficient allowance for the fact
11:25that Indian anger has been boiling for, what, 40 years now? Canada has been smiling and waving
11:31and looking the other way, the Vaisakhi parade with heroes and martyrs, the Air India bomber.
11:38Oh, he only killed 300 innocent civilians floating by on the Vaisakhi float.
11:46Indians clearly had enough, and they're justified in fear. The Indians, I feel, as a Canadian,
11:53completely justified in feeling in grief to the point of being absolutely
12:00Canada's tolerance and relaxed attitude, to put it at its most mild.
12:08The Kalistanis, I mean, that had to change, and if it takes this to change it, maybe it will.
12:14Right. Terry, we'll have to wait and watch for that. But clearly, the developments,
12:21as you rightly put, and for the benefit of our viewers, let me also tell you that
12:26Terry has been an author for the book Blood for Blood, 50 Years of Global Kalistan Project. Now,
12:33this tells you about where Terry is coming from and his in-depth knowledge. Terry, I distinctly
12:40remember the story that you told us about the time when you were in the newsroom and the
12:45Kanishka bombing happened, the downing of that Indian Airlines plane, which took off from Canada.
12:54We'll come to that. But Terry, just for the sake of the neighborhood, United States,
13:01very close to Canada, very close to India also. And this particular issue of Kalistan, of Niger,
13:08has seen even Biden, you know, in support of Justin Trudeau. Where do you see this heading to?
13:16India signing $32,000, you know, chopper deal, AI technology, all this thing happening. And on
13:25the other hand, you have a neighbor which tells us, hey, Biden, look, President Biden,
13:30we have some issue here. You better watch your... It's a very good question. It's a very good
13:34question. Because they're all in a fix, aren't they? I mean, they're all basically, you know,
13:42they don't want China to rule the world. And so as much as possible, they want to cooperate to
13:51that end. But on the other hand, they have many differences. And in this particular matter,
13:59I think the Biden White House has acted responsibly, and even quite heavily. And what
14:06I mean is this, that they have owned up to the fact that yes, they have the intelligence which
14:14forced Canadian allegations. Obviously, they've shared it within the Five Eyes intelligence
14:21sharing group. The FBI has wiretaps of these people talking to their bosses, or at least their
14:29handler, who was allegedly hired by the government employee in New Delhi. And so they've given that
14:43up to the Canadians. They supported them publicly, I won't say with wild enthusiasm,
14:50but because of the implications that you point to, that we're divided in our own house.
15:00And the Americans have also been, when I say they've been quite clever,
15:05I mean that in their indictment of Nikhil Gupta, the alleged handler who hired them,
15:11that they avoided doing what Trudeau did. Coming up in the House of Commons and making a fine speech
15:17about how this is a horrible and irrespective rule of law. India, by implication, has breached the
15:23law of the government of India. The Americans avoided pointing the finger at the government
15:29of India. They pointed to an employee of the government of India. It was acting totally on
15:36his own. I mean, nobody would believe it, but we might agree to say it. And here's what your
15:43question, I think, may take us to. What is the endgame exactly? What if the Indians and the
15:51Americans, forget, I don't know that Canada has the geopolitical clout to have much sway in this,
15:57they'll simply go along with whatever the Americans get done. And the Americans, I would
16:07guess, if you want to guess, slightly educated guess, the Americans, I suspect, would settle
16:15for the Indians promising never to do it again, for some accountability on the part of those who
16:21did it. In return, you know, we're not going to lock up your guy Nikhil Gupta and throw away the
16:30key. You know, in a couple of years, he'll get out and we won't advertise that. Okay. You'll
16:37have a nice life afterwards. And this will be done in order to avoid the kind of blowback
16:46that you fear in your question. They're going to make a deal, in other words, like a prisoner,
16:52some kind of prisoner swap. The same kind of theory that, you know, it doesn't look pretty,
16:57but it's probably better than not doing it. But they will make a deal. India will skate away.
17:04Canada will skate away. Americans will skate away. And they'll be back to doing arms deals.
17:11They'll be back to the main event, the main story. And I think that's where the Biden
17:17administration has been steering this. But make no mistake, they've nailed their colors to the
17:23mass. The Americans, I mean. They have told the Indians that, you know, we're not going to settle
17:28for anything less than accountability. You can't just sort of, you know, mumble and shuffle your
17:33feet and say, yeah, we're taking it really seriously and do nothing. We're not going to buy that.
17:40The longer you drag this out without making a deal, the worse it will be.
17:45Right. Well, I presume, you know, for the better part of the world, Terry,
17:52it has now become a fact that, yes, indeed, there is something fishy going on. But as you put it,
18:00to put an end, to put a lid on all of this would be the big brother playing the
18:07role of the mediator and possibly trying to find a win-win solution. But in this part of the world,
18:12Terry, I mean, just to sum it up, yes, you're right when you say that the media is a bit,
18:19you know, pro-government, not so anti-establishment. But to accept the fact
18:26for a country which has lost its prime ministers, assassinated by these elements,
18:33you know, have seen youth going awry of a particular state and has bought the brunt for
18:40nearly 40 years, four decades. This is something that would definitely take a lot of time for both
18:48India and the other faction in Canada and other parts of the world, Australia, you name it,
18:55a little bit in America, too. We'll have to wait and watch and see how, you know, it transpires.
19:01And India, in the meantime, would definitely try and exercise its right of authority and of,
19:07to a certain extent, self-defense, I would say. And that's when the comments do come in,
19:14as you mentioned. Terry Milewski, thank you so much for taking time out from Ottawa in Canada,
19:20and we wish you a very good day ahead. And we hope to see you very soon.
19:25Thank you. I enjoyed it.