Justin Trudeau’s ‘India errors’ highlighted in an opinion piece
NEW DELHI / TORONTO : In a major gaffe, a map of India displayed at the Canadian High Commission dinner reception during Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s visit to India omitted Jammu and Kashmir. Trudeau was on a week-long State visit to India from February 18 to 24.
Trudeau’s visit was marred by the reports of an invitation extended to a Khalistani terrorist Jaspal Atwal to dine with the former at a formal event hosted by Canadian High Commissioner to India Nadir Patel. The invite was later rescinded.
Trudeau also received backlash over his wife Sophie Trudeau’s photo with the convicted pro-Khalistani terrorist. Atwal was convicted of the attempted murder of Punjab minister Malkiat Singh Sidhu on Vancouver Island in 1986.Canadian Member of Parliament (MP) Randeep S. Sarai, however, took responsibility for inviting Atwal to Trudeau’s reception dinner in New Delhi.
According to Glavin, Trudeau continued “his India errors even after
returning home” by supporting a senior government official who suggested factions within the Indian government were involved in sabotaging his visit to India last week.During Trudeau’s first question period since returning to Canada, opposition MPs grilled him over the invitation issued to Atwal.
Responding to a Conservative leader’s question about the “allegations” made by a senior government security source, Trudeau said, “When one of our top diplomats and security officials says something to Canadians it’s because they know it to be true,” and added that it was the previous Conservative government that “torqued the public service every possible way they could.”
India on Wednesday rubbished the allegation that “rogue political elements in India may have orchestrated the embarrassing invitation” to a convicted Khalistani terrorist to sabotage Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s recent visit to the country as “baseless and unacceptable”.
“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,” said MEA Spokesperson Raveesh Kumar.
India’s firm assertion comes a day after Trudeau faced questions from the opposition in the Canadian Parliament over the controversy and reports that he was standing by a senior who suggested that factions within the Indian government were trying to sabotage his recent India visit.
Jaspal Atwal, a Canadian Sikh convicted for trying to assassinate a Punjab minister in 1986, had attended an event hosted by the Canadian high commission for Trudeau in Mumbai and was photographed with his wife, sparking a furore. Following this, his invite for a second event—a dinner reception hosted by the Canadian high commission in Trudeau’s honour—was rescinded.
The storm over Atwal broke a day before Trudeau was to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi. It capped days of negative press over the Canadian PM’s visit, including speculation that Modi had not received Trudeau at the airport due to strains over the Canada’s ruling Liberal Party’s links with Sikh separatist organizations.(With Agency Inputs).
