India slams Canadian PM Justin Trudeau for Atwal visa slur

NEW DELHI: India slammed as "baseless and unacceptable" on Wednesday a comment by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau suggesting that former

Khalistani

terrorist Jaspal

Atwal

was given a visa as a section of the Indian government wanted to embarrass his government.

Opposition MPs questioned Trudeau in parliament on Tuesday about invitations issued to Atwal - convicted of attempting to assassinate a Punjab minister in 1986 - to attend two events with him in India.

National security adviser Daniel Jean's "anonymous" media briefing last week suggested that Atwal's presence was arranged by "factions within the Indian government who want to prevent PM Narendra Modi from getting too cosy with a foreign government they believe is not committed to a united India". "Does the PM agree with those allegations?" asked opposition leader Andrew Scheer.


A Canadian newspaper said opposition MPs demanded “proof” from Prime Minister Trudeau to back up his government’s allegations.

New Democrat MP Charlie Angus accused Trudeau of using a senior civil servant to “spin a conspiracy theory that somehow the Indian government is trying to make the Liberals look bad”.

In a sharply worded comment, MEA spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said, “Let me categorically state that the government of India, including the security agencies, had nothing to do with the presence of Jaspal Atwal at the event hosted by the Canadian high commissioner in Mumbai or the invitation issued to him for the Canadian high commissioner's reception in New Delhi.

Any suggestion to the contrary is baseless and unacceptable.” As reported by TOI, the Indian government has taken a dim view of Jean’s briefing that “rogue elements” in the Indian establishment had let in Atwal into the country. But, as the media and politicians in Canada themselves pointed out, Jean’s charge made little sense because it was the Canadian delegation that had invited Atwal to the events in Mumbai and Delhi.

In fact, a Canadian Liberal MP, Randeep S Sarai, took responsibility and tweeted an apology. “I want to again apologise for my role in recent unfortunate events. Moving forward, I will be exercising better judgment. As I don't want to distract from the good work of the Pacific Caucus, I will be stepping down as caucus chair.” Atwal is among a group of Canadian-Indians who have been taken off the blacklist by the Indian government as it seeks to engage with many of them.

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