The newspaper quoted Trudeau as saying, “Obviously, we are going through a very challenging time with India at the moment.”
However, he did not confirm the Financial Times report.
Asked whether his government would retaliate by asking India to expel diplomats posted in Canada, Trudeau said his government would try to continue working with New Delhi.
Trudeau said, “As I have said, we are not looking to escalate tensions.” We want to do what matters to continue our constructive relationship with India during these very difficult times.
Relations between India and Canada came under severe strain following Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s allegations of “possible” involvement of Indian agents in the killing of Khalistani separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar in June.
India rejected the allegations as “absurd” and “motivated” and expelled a senior Canadian diplomat in retaliation for expelling an Indian official in Ottawa over the matter.
Nijjar was shot dead by two masked gunmen in British Columbia on June 18. India declared him a terrorist in 2020.
India on September 21 asked Canada to reduce its diplomatic presence in the country as relations between the two countries hit an all-time low following Ottawa’s accusations against New Delhi.
Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar told reporters in Washington last week that the governments of India and Canada will have to talk to each other and see how differences can be resolved.
(Except the headline, this story has not been edited by the NDTV team and is published directly from a syndicated feed.)
