Canada’s Justin Trudeau claims nexus between Indian diplomats and Lawrence Bishnoi gang: ‘Collecting information on…’
News Mania / Piyal Chatterjee / 17th October 2024
In his testimony before the public investigation into foreign meddling in Canadian elections and democratic institutions, Justin Trudeau claimed on Wednesday that Indian diplomats were gathering data on Canadians who disagreed with the Narendra Modi administration and sending it to the highest echelons of the Indian government as well as criminal groups like the Lawrence Bishnoi gang.
Although the Lawrence Bishnoi gang has a sordid record of extortion and murder in India, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police have charged them with potential participation in the murder of Hardeep Singh Nijjar.
The Lawrence Bishnoi gang was identified by the RCMP as an organized crime group that India uses to target Sikh separatists and members of the South Asian diaspora. Attempts by Canadian authorities to connect Indian agents with criminal gangs in Canada have been vehemently denied by India. Canada’s claim that it exchanged evidence with New Delhi in the case of Sikh separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar was “simply not true,” according to official sources in the Indian administration.
The 2023 murder of Hardeep Nijjar in Vancouver has escalated diplomatic relations, and Justin Trudeau accused India of invading his nation’s sovereignty.According to news agency AFP, Justin Trudeau spoke during the parliamentary investigation about what he described as extensive attempts by Indian delegates to stifle critics of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s administration on Canadian land.
Justin Trudeau went on to describe actions that he claimed included Indian “diplomats gathering information on Canadians who are the Modi government’s opponents or in disagreement.””The highest levels within the Indian government” were notified of the intelligence, he continued, and it was subsequently “through criminal organizations like the Lawrence Bishnoi gang to then result in violence against Canadians on the ground.”
Trudeau claimed that the Sikh community was not the only group in Canada to be intimidated by India. When India hosted the G20 Summit in September 2023, Trudeau added, his administration had the option to make the accusations public but decided against it. When he met with Modi, he discreetly voiced his worries.
