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    • Expelled Indian diplomat denies involvement in Sikh leader's murder, claims 'no evidence presented'

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    India鈥檚 High Commissioner to Canada denies any involvement in the murder of Canadian Sikh leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar, who was shot and killed in B.C. last year.

    鈥淣othing at all,鈥 Sanjay Kumar Verma answered, when asked directly about his alleged connection in the killing, in an exclusive interview on CTV鈥檚 Question Period, airing Sunday.

    鈥淣o evidence presented. Politically motivated,鈥 he also said.

    And when asked by host Vassy Kapelos whether the Indian government has ever been involved in the targeting of certain individuals, with an end goal of their death, Verma said: 鈥淣ever.鈥

    Verma鈥檚 comments come just days after the RCMP and the federal government accused Indian diplomats and consular officials based in Canada of engaging in clandestine activities linked to serious criminal activity in this country, including homicides and extortions.

    It鈥檚 also been little more than a year since Prime Minister Justin Trudeau rose in the House of Commons and said there were 鈥渃redible allegations鈥 that agents of the Indian government were involved in Nijjar鈥檚 murder. Relations between the two countries have been tense ever since.

    In response to Monday鈥檚 allegations, Canada expelled six diplomats, including Verma. India kicked out six Canadian diplomats in retaliation.

    鈥淭he decision to expel these individuals was made with great consideration and only after the RCMP gathered ample, clear and concrete evidence which identified six individuals as persons of interest in the Nijjar case,鈥 said Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly in a statement on Monday.

    When presented with Joly鈥檚 verbatim explanation by Kapelos, Verma accused her of 鈥渢alking politically.鈥

    鈥淟et me see the concrete evidence she's talking about,鈥 he said. 鈥淎s far as I'm concerned, she's talking politically. As I'm concerned, she has got nothing in her hand.鈥

    Verma also explicitly said he condemns Nijjar鈥檚 murder, when asked directly by Kapelos.

    鈥淎ny murder is wrong and bad. I do condemn and that is what I've said in many interviews. Let's get to the bottom of the issue,鈥 Verma said.

    'Not a shred of evidence' shared

    Since Trudeau鈥檚 address to the House of Commons last September, Indian officials have refused to co-operate in an investigation.

    Asked why India is still refusing to co-operate, despite these new accusations, Verma claimed 鈥渘ot a shred of evidence has been shared with us.鈥

    鈥淯nfortunately, we have not got anything from any Canadian official, which can lead us to a better spot,鈥 he said.

    According to the RCMP, Deputy Commissioner Mark Flynn made attempts earlier this month to meet with his Indian counterparts to present evidence, but those attempts were unsuccessful.

    Flynn, along with National Security and Intelligence Advisor (NSIA) Nathalie Drouin and Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs David Morrison then met with Indian government officials over the weekend, prior to Monday鈥檚 allegations, to share evidence and urge their co-operation, but India refused to waive diplomatic immunity for Verma and his five other colleagues so they could be questioned.

    Asked by Kapelos why Indian officials were unwilling to see the evidence, Verma said 鈥減roper visas were not there.鈥

    鈥淰isas needs to be affixed for any delegation,鈥 he said. 鈥淔or any government delegation to travel to another country, you need an agenda to go by. There was no agenda at all.鈥

    鈥淪o therefore, it was largely technical,鈥 he added.

    When pressed repeatedly by Kapelos whether that explanation leaves 鈥淐anadians with the impression that (the Indian) government does have something to hide,鈥 Verma insisted 鈥渁bsolutely not.鈥

    鈥淚n fact, we have been asking for (evidence) for the last one year, which the RCMP has also said,鈥 Verma said. 鈥淎nd then if you do not share with us the reason for your visit, how do we know?鈥

    In an interview also airing Sunday on CTV鈥檚 Question Period, Canada鈥檚 most recent High Commissioner to India Cameron MacKay said he can 鈥渃onclusively鈥 say Canadian officials have had 鈥渕eetings at multiple levels鈥 since August 2023 to try and share information with India.

    鈥淭here's no doubt in my mind that we have shared more than sufficient information and evidence with the Indian side up to now at every level of the Canadian government and the Indian government,鈥 MacKay said.

    India, meanwhile, is cooperating in a U.S. investigation in a foiled assassination plot last year to murder Sikh activist and dual U.S.-Canadian citizen Gurpatwant Singh Pannun in New York City. On Thursday, the U.S. Justice Department announced criminal charges against an Indian government employee after an Indian government committee investigating the case visited Washington this week. The unsealed indictment also connects that assassination attempt to Nijjar鈥檚 case.

    Asked by Kapelos about the linked cases, Verma repeatedly rebuffed any connection, adding an 鈥渋ndictment is not a conviction.鈥

    鈥淎nd therefore, logically, it will follow its judicial process,鈥 he said.

    MacKay said he believes India is responding to Canada and the U.S. differently for its own domestic political reasons.

    鈥淚ndia has elaborated a kind of a false distinction between what has happened in the United States and what has happened in Canada, and it's been very successful for them in terms of domestic media coverage, but internationally, I don't think that's the case,鈥 MacKay told Kapelos.

    Allegations of collecting information through coercion

    On Monday, the RCMP also accused Indian diplomats of leveraging their positions to coerce individuals and businesses to collect information for the Government of India on pro-Khalistan activists.

    Verma also denied those claims.

    鈥淚, as High Commissioner of India, have never done anything of that kind. That is one,鈥 Verma said. 鈥淪econd, my colleagues, do we want to know what pro-Khalistani elements in Canada are doing? Yes, we do. That's my national interest.鈥

    But when asked by Kapelos if the means used to collect that information were legal or illegal, Verma said the collection of that information 鈥渋s all overt.鈥

    鈥淭here is nothing covert. It's all overt,鈥 Verma said. 鈥淪o we read the newspapers, we read their statements, since we understand Punjabi. So we read their social media posts, and try to infer from there.鈥

    The Khalistan movement supports the establishment of an independent Sikh state in India. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his government has long condemned that movement and has been critical of Canada for not opposing Sikh separatism within its own borders.

    With files from 愛污传媒鈥 Brennan MacDonald and Spencer Van Dyk 

    You can watch Verma鈥檚 full interview on CTV鈥檚 Question Period in the video player at the top of this article.

     

    This transcript of Verma's interview with Vassy Kapelos for Sunday's episode of CTV's Question Period has been edited for length and clarity.

     

    Vassy Kapelos: I want to start off and ask you very directly: If, High Commissioner, you have not done anything wrong, why are you not co-operating with Canadian authorities?

    High Commissioner Verma: There are a couple of things we needed to see; some evidence on the basis of which we can converse with our Canadian counterparts. Unfortunately, not a shred of evidence has been shared with us. Any evidence which is shared has to be legally acceptable. We are a country of rule of law, and so is Canada, so therefore anything which is acceptable in the Canadian court of law would largely also be acceptable in the Indian court of law, and therefore that evidence will work. Unfortunately, we have not got anything from any Canadian official which can lead us to a better spot.

    Vassy Kapelos: The RCMP, our policing agency, has framed it very differently. I'm going to read exactly what they said about this issue in their statement. 鈥淭he deputy commissioner of federal policing, Mark Flynn, made attempts to meet with his Indian law enforcement counterparts to discuss violent extremism occurring in Canada and India and present evidence pertaining to agents of the government of India's involvement in serious criminal activity in Canada. These attempts were unsuccessful. Therefore, Deputy Commissioner Flynn met with officials of the government of India, along with the national security and intelligence advisor and Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, David Morrison, over the weekend.鈥 The RCMP position and the federal government's position is they did it to show your government, and your policing agencies, the evidence that you require, and you refused to look at it.

    High Commissioner Verma: So the response to this is that they wanted to leave for India on the eighth of October. They gave their completed application formally on the eighth of October. So (a) visa needs to be affixed. For any government delegation to travel to another country, you need an agenda to go by. There was no agenda at all.

    So therefore it was largely technical. I have to find the correct official on the Indian side, so that the kind of things that I wanted to discuss, for which I needed an agenda. There was no agenda shared with us. (An) agenda was shared at the last moment, I believe even after the flight would have departed. So it was nothing to do with it. I think it was pre-planned. They knew that the visa cannot be issued in half an hour to an hour, and therefore they did it. I think it was absolutely politically motivated.

    Vassy Kapelos: Let me clarify here, are you saying that meeting couldn't take place, not because Indian officials didn't want to see the evidence, but because the proper procedures hadn't been followed?

    High Commissioner Verma: Not procedures. Visas were not there, and they needed to apply for a visa. There is time which is taken to issue a visa. Between India and Canada, there is no visa-free agreement. So therefore, in general, for a government official from India to come to Canada, it would take at least a week to get the visa. Same thing happens to the Canadian officials, and they just gave it to us as fait accompli. So visa is one. Second is, what did they want to talk about? That was not shared at all.

    Vassy Kapelos: Isn't it clear, though, if the RCMP is coming to speak to counterparts, and given what's occurred over the last year, that this would be involving the case at hand and the cases at hand?

    High Commissioner Verma: The most important case at hand, from our point of view, are the 26 extradition requests, and so many other arrest requests. So we would think that they are coming for that 鈥 they will hand over some of these people to us. It is not always that, unless you clarify the agenda, we would exactly read your mind.

    Vassy Kapelos: And I have questions about what you mentioned in a moment, but just sticking to the what the RCMP and the federal government have put forward. At some point, they would have communicated, 鈥榳e're coming to share with you, evidence, evidence that you have asked for鈥 鈥 including (on this show), in this chair [a] number of months ago 鈥 鈥榳e are sharing with you evidence of very serious allegations that we have made, involving yourself, your colleagues and other agents of the government of India.鈥 I guess it's confounding to me, and I imagine to people watching, why a visa or something of that nature would get in the way of India wanting to know what kind of evidence. Why would you not want to know all the evidence Canada has before it, unless you have something to hide?

    High Commissioner Verma: We have been trying to get the Canadian officials, the law and order officials, to talk to their Indian counterparts for [the] last one year. And we were the ones who have been asking for it. For [the] last one year, there has been no movement. Now, let's ask: "Why this movement, now?" So that was being forced on us, without having an agenda; without knowing whom to meet.

    See, like in any other large police organization or intelligence agencies 鈥 we have the NIA, which is the National Investigation Agency 鈥 they will have different officials dealing with different subjects. They don鈥檛 deal with Canada as such. They deal with extradition, they deal with Interpol. So what is it that they wanted to talk about? Unless that agenda is clarified, how do I get those people 鈥

    Vassy Kapelos: But once it is 鈥

    High Commissioner Verma: Once it is, we are always there.

    Vassy Kapelos: So now you know what the allegations are. Has anybody met with the Canadian side to get that evidence?

    High Commissioner Verma: We are not (鈥) as our agencies. Canadian officials in their interrogation or intelligence agency will need to travel. So you travel like an official. For which, one, you give me an agenda, I will have to find out which official works on those agenda, and then whether the official is available. Because, like the Canadian officials keep travelling globally, Indian officials also keep travelling globally. So if they are not in my capital, you land up, and then you say: 鈥淵ou know, no one met me.鈥

    Vassy Kapelos: I take your point. I guess what's confusing on the Canadian side is that we are not used to the RCMP delivering a press conference like they did, or the federal government. I think they are understanding of the seriousness with which these allegations are being delivered. And I am a little perplexed that the kinds of reasons you're providing to not look at that evidence don't seem commensurate with the crime that, essentially, you're all being accused of. If someone accused me of being a person of interest in a murder, I'd want to know everything that they had on me, particularly if I had nothing to hide, which again, allows me to circle back to the idea that you are leaving Canadians with the impression that your government does have something to hide.

    High Commissioner Verma: Absolutely not. And in fact, we have been asking for it for the last one year, which the RCMP has also said. And then, if do not share with us the reason for your visit, how do we know? As I told you earlier, that my premier reason, which will come to my mind, (is) that maybe you are going to talk about my extradition requests, because to me, that is my core concern with Canada.

    Your concerns could be different from us. Fine. That's the nature of diplomacy. But then I have to know. So today, when I came to see you, you knew that I was coming for what purpose? So if I don't tell you, I land up and say, 鈥淵ou know what, why don't you interview me?鈥

    Vassy Kapelos: I take your point. But to be fair, all I said was we requested an interview, that's all. And particularly, when you know what the RCMP, what the Canadian government, I should say, what the prime minister stood up and said, wouldn't it follow that the evidence you've been asking for would be delivered in such a meeting, and maybe the subject that you want to bring up would be conversed about as well?

    High Commissioner Verma: So they should have said so.

    Vassy Kapelos: So just to be clear, nobody said we want to meet because of "A, B and C," they just said, we want to meet?

    High Commissioner Verma: No. Not even meet. They said that we need a visa to go to India. When it was asked of them, they said, we want to meet our counterparts. Then when it was asked, what will be the agenda for meeting 鈥 because I have to pull out those officials if they are present in India, if they're not present, to schedule it at some other time 鈥 nothing came back.

    Vassy Kapelos: Let me move on to what they said in the days that followed, and very specifically and point-blank, put their allegations to you, particularly what came from (Foreign Affairs) Minister (Melanie) Joly. The allegations that she makes are very serious 鈥 that you, yourself, are a person of interest in the murder of Hardeep Nijjar. Did you have anything to do with his murder?

    High Commissioner Verma: Nothing at all. No evidence presented. Politically motivated. And more or less, if Mr. Trudeau or his colleagues know about it, is it not a crime not to file a charge sheet? Is it not a crime not to go the judicial process?

    Vassy Kapelos: But, I mean, you're a person of interest. You haven't been accused of anything, they would like to ask you questions, and therefore asked for you or your government to waive your diplomatic immunity so those questions can be asked. You would not do that.

    High Commissioner Verma: On what basis? If you are a defendant, for example, which I'm not, then you will be shared with evidence, on the basis of which anything can take place. And that happens even if you have been caught for a petty crime.

    Vassy Kapelos: Well, actually, the RCMP here, our policing forces, can say they have evidence, and they would like to ask questions. They don't have to show that evidence right away.

    High Commissioner Verma: If I'm going for an interrogation, I need to know what I'm interrogated for. I need to know what is the evidence that you have, so that I go prepared.

    Vassy Kapelos: Let me put to you what Minister Joly said. 鈥淭he decision to expel these individuals was made with great consideration, and only after the RCMP gathered ample, clear and concrete evidence, which identified six individuals as persons of interest in the Nijjar case,鈥 one of whom is you.

    High Commissioner Verma: Which was never shared. Let me see the concrete evidence she's talking about. As far as I'm concerned, she's talking politically. As I'm concerned, she has got nothing in her hand.

    Vassy Kapelos: Do you think, though, honestly, a country like this one, that does have a historied relationship with India, would stand up and make an accusation like that without any evidence? And in all seriousness, do you think that is the case? And why would you, again, not want to know what that evidence is?

    High Commissioner Verma: I want to know the evidence. But there has to be a way in seeking those evidence, and there has to be a way in confirming those evidence. And the first point is, please show me the evidence. And I have been talking about it from day one: unless I know what I am being asked for, what are the evidence that that you have, how do you prepare my defence?

    Vassy Kapelos: But it's not a defence. They're simply asking questions.

    High Commissioner Verma: It is a defence. That's what people fail to understand.

    Vassy Kapelos: But you haven't been charged, you need a defence when you've been charged, you're just a person of interest.

    High Commissioner Verma: No, I need a defence even when I go for interrogation. People can go to interrogation with their lawyers. Let鈥檚 not complicate this issue. So if there is someone who has complained that a person is a rapist, that after that complaint, the first thing that the law and order authorities will do is interrogate. When they go for interrogation, they have a right to carry a lawyer with them.

    Vassy Kapelos: Did anyone deny you that right? I mean, they just asked that (you) waive diplomatic immunity.

    High Commissioner Verma: They didn't even share why I am a person of interest.

    Vassy Kapelos: The accusation has been levelled that you and your colleagues, essentially, played a role in collecting information, more broadly, but I imagine the allegation is specific to Mr. Nijjar as well, on his whereabouts, that could be then fed to people who would have murdered him, or would have been involved in other crimes, in other cases. Have you, in your position, ever directed or coerced anybody into gathering information on pro-Khalistan activists, that you could then later target?

    High Commissioner Verma: So first of all, I, as high commissioner of India, have never done anything of that kind. That is one. Second, my colleagues: do we want to know what pro-Khalistani elements in Canada are doing? Yes, we do. That's my national interest. That's my core concern with Canada, which is trying to tore up Indian territory. So if the Canadian politicians are so novice that they want me not to know what my enemies are doing here, I'm sorry, then they don't know what the international relations is all about.

    Vassy Kapelos: Are you using legal means to monitor them, or is it illegal, what you're doing?

    High Commissioner Verma: It is all overt. There is nothing covert. It's all overt. So we read the newspapers, we read their statements, since we understand Punjabi. So we read their social media posts, and try to infer from there.

    Vassy Kapelos: Has the government of India ever been involved in targeting, for death, any of these individuals?

    High Commissioner Verma: Never.

    Vassy Kapelos: Do you condemn Mr. Nijjar鈥檚 death 鈥 murder?

    High Commissioner Verma: I do condemn.

    Vassy Kapelos: You condemn his murder.

    High Commissioner Verma: Any murder is wrong and bad. I do condemn. And that is what I've said in many interviews. Let's get to the bottom of the issue, but to get to the bottom of the issue, there has to be evidence shared that you have, and we'll share our evidence. Don't we do that in the extradition cases? We have sent 26 dossiers to Canada. What has happened?

    Vassy Kapelos: And I understand the point that you have around concern of a lack of action on that. Can you understand how, to Canadians, that would never justify participation in an extrajudicial murder?

    High Commissioner Verma: It should not happen anywhere in the world. I know the countries which have done it, and some of them are G7 countries, by the way. So let's not talk about it. There should not be double standards. So as far as we are concerned, the largest democracy in the world, we are committed not to doing extrajudicial killings on any territory.

    Vassy Kapelos: The U.S., this week, seems to buoy the Canadian case. They have unsealed 鈥 and I'll put the contents of it to you, and in case our audience isn't familiar 鈥 they have unsealed an indictment about an attempted murder of one of Mr. Nijjar鈥檚 associates. They have revealed the name, essentially, of the individual who, at the time, was working in the cabinet secretariat of the Indian government, who contracted out another individual, whom they also arrested, who then, that individual, hired a hitman, who was an undercover agent.

    They very specifically in that document talk about how there were conversations among those individuals about how Nijjar was, 鈥渁lso the target,鈥 that he was number four and number three on the list. 鈥淎nd not to worry, because we have so many targets. We have so many targets. But the good news is this. The good news is this. Now, no need to wait.鈥

    This is evidence. This is the indictment. This is in the courts. That's what you said you wanted.

    High Commissioner Verma: Indictment is not conviction. Let's understand, as democracies.

    Vassy Kapelos: I understand, but you said when submitted to a court, is what you're looking for, this has been submitted to the court.

    High Commissioner Verma: So indictment is not a conviction. That's the first thing I want you to understand. And therefore, logically, it will follow its judicial process. And we are fine with that, so much so that we ourselves formed a committee, a high-level committee, to help the Americans in this. So I will not be able to talk much about it, because my mandate is India-Canada relations, and not India-U.S. relations. So I won't know the nitty gritties, frankly, and I'll put it on the table. But as far as the process is concerned, when it was informed, we formed a high-level committee, and which is working in tandem with the U.S. law enforcement agencies.

    Vassy Kapelos: They visited the U.S. this week, in fact, and it was reported that, upon a kind of frustration with a lack of vigour with which that committee is investigating the issue, that is why the name of the individual, who was associated with the Government of India very directly, as unsealed. That had not been the case for months, until now. Again, the connection here is made between your government and the murder of Mr. Nijjar. Do you refute this connection in this indictment?

    High Commissioner Verma: I entirely refute this connection due to various reasons. Canada didn't follow the practice, which should have been there. Evidence should have been shared first, but someone decided to stand in the Parliament and talk about a thing for which, he himself has said, there was no hard evidence.

    So let's be very clear what we are talking about. And the day on which he did that, since then, he has made it show that the bilateral relations with India only goes downwards; spiraling down.

    Vassy Kapelos: I want to ask you about the future of that relationship. But again, I keep hearing you say it's about the evidence. It's about the evidence that the prime minister himself said, there's no hard evidence. At the time, he was talking about intelligence. The RCMP, our policing agency, which is independent from politics, from the federal government, from the political motivation that you ascribe 鈥 it is an independent policing agency 鈥 says they have evidence on this.

    High Commissioner Verma: How politically independent they are, we can discuss it till the cows come home.

    Vassy Kapelos: They are.

    High Commissioner Verma: That's your view. I will give you my view. So, till two days before, they said there is no evidence to share, and in the foreign interference inquiry meeting, all of a sudden, there was all the evidence in the world available with them. So let's not go there. And the political motivation, I have been talking about it for a long time. No official, no institution, can remain completely aloof of what's happening politically.

    Vassy Kapelos: When you talk about political motivation, I imagine, and your government has referenced this in the past week, that you're referencing the prime minister, in your estimation, courting the Sikh separatist vote. What evidence do you have that the prime minister would use a desire for a certain voting bloc to accuse one of our most significant trading partners, and people-to-people relationships, of the kind of crimes that he has? Do you actually think that he would take it so lightly and care so much about his own political victories to put this relationship at risk. Isn't it hard to believe? Because that's what you鈥檙e accusing him of, and I don't see any evidence of that.

    High Commissioner Verma: I think Mr. Trudeau should respond to it. The problem is that, when he accused, he himself admitted that there was no hard evidence.

    Vassy Kapelos: There was intelligence shared with him by our Five Eyes allies.

    High Commissioner Verma: On the basis of intelligence, if you want to destroy a relationship, be my guest. That鈥檚 what he did.

    Vassy Kapelos: But perhaps the intelligence, as it's described in this indictment, is about a crime so severe in nature that it's impossible for him to ignore. Could that not be understandable?

    High Commissioner Verma: If there is such compelling evidence, why haven't they gone to the court of law so far?

    Vassy Kapelos: The RCMP has. Eight individuals have been charged with homicide.

    High Commissioner Verma: But that is not the case. Cases linking of so-called agents of the government of India. That case is murder, and any criminal who is here, some of them came here as innocent international students, and they turned into criminals in this country. I don't know what happened. How did they get influenced? I have no information on that.

    Vassy Kapelos: They're alleging that that's where you and your colleagues play a role. I'm saying that I understand that you're saying you don't, but the allegation connected to these, that the RCMP very clearly presented, is that you and your colleagues were involved in coercing these individuals in some ways, to commit crimes, some violent in nature, in order to further your cause.

    High Commissioner Verma: Just to reframe a bit. If they have evidence of what we have coerced, which can be legally accepted, why are they not sharing it? Because the evidence, what they call 鈥渢his evidence,鈥 is hearsay, and I know for sure that they go from one person to the other asking them about the hearsay. Most of them are those who are pro-Khalistan elements, anti-India elements, anti-India-Canada elements, and then they take that as evidence.

    Vassy Kapelos: The only thing I would respond to say to that is that I've read the U.S. indictment very closely, which is similar in nature, in the allegations are being made. And it's not just hearsay. They have an individual who has listened and been a part of the conversations, directly with a person who represents the government of India, who is telling them to murder someone who espouses the views that you are concerned about. That is not just hearsay.

    High Commissioner Verma: Does Canada have that? There are two different countries, two different 鈥渃rimes鈥 taken place. The place of crime are different, and therefore I would expect very much the Canadian government to come out clean, showing me the evidence of anything.

    Vassy Kapelos: You can take issue with them, I understand that. I'm saying, from my perspective, having read it, that that isn't just hearsay, that the connection they lay out to the Government of India and Mr. Nijjar鈥檚 murder is not just hearsay. It is based on evidence that they have, that they have spelled out.

    High Commissioner Verma: That is why there is a high-level committee talking to them. The Canadian agencies which are talking to us have not given a shred of evidence, including on the 12th October meeting in Singapore for us to act upon. Gone are the days when the so-called developed countries or Western bloc would ask a developing country, 鈥測ou must do this,鈥 and they will run after them and do it. We are a rule-of-law country, as Canada prides itself to be a rule of law country, so won't you give me evidences which are suitable for my own legal process?

    Vassy Kapelos: They wanted to give it, that's all I'll say.

    High Commissioner Verma: Why haven't they given it earlier? And if they have not, then on what basis are these statements are being made?

    Vassy Kapelos: Before we go, I do want to ask you about the larger picture of the relationship as you leave, because it is a significant relationship, both in an economic and other sense. First of all, will your colleagues be replaced? Will you and your colleagues, when you leave, is the Indian government going to replace you?

    High Commissioner Verma: That is a discussion we will have with the Canadian side. Largely given the mistrust that we have in Mr. Trudeau and his team, we鈥檒l have concerns, and we'll discuss it very carefully with them. Our security and safeties are concerned, so there are so many things.

    Khalistani extremists are being encouraged all the time. I also know, again, this is my allegation, I'm not giving you any evidence on that, I also know that some of these Khalistani extremists and terrorists are deep assets of CSIS. So I'm giving that accusation again; I'm not giving you an evidence.

    Vassy Kapelos: Without evidence, just the same way you鈥檙e criticizing the government of. Why would you do the same thing you鈥檙e accusing the government of?

    High Commissioner Verma: Because that is what is understood by the Canadian politicians, that someone stands on the floor of the Parliament (and) says something, which he later says, I didn't have any evidence, and that was taken as biblical truth.

    Vassy Kapelos: But you're criticizing the prime minister, and then, and then I'll just point out, doing the same thing. I want to move on, though, because I asked if you will be replaced. Will your government allow the Canadian diplomats who are being expelled to be replaced?

    High Commissioner Verma: The same thing. It is a matter of conversation between the two governments. As to the relationship itself is concerned, it is a large relationship. Canada had been a friend of India. Canada will remain a friend of India. There had been issues between two countries that many countries have. That's not a surprise. We only want the Canadian regime of the day, the government of the day, to understand my core concerns, and try to act on that sincerely, rather than being bedfellows with those who are trying to challenge Indian sovereignty and territorial integrity.

    And mind you, the largest Sikh population in the world is in India. They undergo elections at least every five years. Their election voting percentage is much higher than any time of Canadian elections. So I can go on and on, on this, but the short point is that what happens to India will be decided by Indians. These Khalistani terrorists and extremists who are based out of Canada are not Indians. They are Canadian citizens. And no government should encourage their citizens to attack sovereignty and territorial integrity.

    Vassy Kapelos: And to be clear, the government of India should not seek to extrajudicially harm those people.

    High Commissioner Verma: Completely. Absolutely.

    Vassy Kapelos: Just one final question on what happens with the relationship going forward, our trade minister has explicitly said that she does not anticipate the trade relationship be impacted by this. Is that the view also of your government?

    High Commissioner Verma: Absolutely. People-to-people relationship, trade relationship, cultural relationship, science and technology, you know, education; those relationships have got nothing to do with it. This is a very different conversation what we were having today, and there will be emotions on both sides, and we cannot stop that. So there will be emotions which may impact a few of those deals, but larger picture is that I don't see much impact on non-political bilateral relations.

    Vassy Kapelos: I鈥 Okay, I will leave it on that note. Thank you, High Commissioner.

    High Commissioner Verma: Thank you very much. Thank you so much. 

    IN DEPTH

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    • An Indigenous group in northwestern Ontario shut down the highway for a couple of hours Monday morning in protest after ancestral remains were found at a construction site.

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