"Ties Can't Be...": India Rejects Trudeau's Claim As PMs Come Face-To-Face In Laos

India today strongly rejected claims made by Canadian PM Justin Trudeau that "safety of Canadians" was discussed when he came face-to-face with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Laos, on the sidelines of the ASEAN Summit. The two leaders exchanged greetings.

"There was no substantive discussion between PM Modi and Prime Minister Trudeau in Vientiane," government sources told NDTV, saying the two leaders only greeted each other when they came face-to-face in Laos.

Speaking about Khalistani activity being encouraged on Canadian soil, foreign ministry sources told NDTV that "India continues to expect that anti-India Khalistani activities will not be allowed to take place on Canadian soil and that firm action, which is lacking thus far, will be taken against those advocating violence, extremism and terrorism against India from Canadian territory."

Cautioning Canada about growing extremism in the north American country, the source said, "The growing nexus of such forces with organised crime, drug syndicates and human trafficking should be a concern for Canada as well."

The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation or CBC News said Justin Trudeau described the interaction with PM Modi as a "brief exchange". "I emphasised that there is work that we need to do," CBC News quoted Mr Trudeau as saying.

Speaking at a press conference in Laos, Mr Trudeau said, "I won't go into details about what we talked about but what I've said many times is that the safety of Canadians and upholding the rule of law is one of the fundamental responsibilities of any Canadian government and that's what I'll stay focused on."

The brief exchange between PM Modi and Justin Trudeau came almost a year after the Canadian PM accused India of involvement in the death of Khalistani terrorist Hardeep Nijjar, who was taking refuge in Canada and was given citizenship in that country.

India has rejected the claims that such discussions happened during the brief exchange, saying, "India attaches importance to relations with Canada but these cannot be repaired unless the Canadian Government takes strict and verifiable action against those who actively pursue anti-India activities and have conspired to promote hate, disinformation, communal disharmony and violence in India as well as Canada."

Ties between India and Canada are at an all-time low after Justin Trudeau's allegations in September of a "potential involvement" of Indian agents in Khalistani terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar's killing outside a gurdwara in Surrey city on June 18, 2023.

India had designated Hardeep Singh Nijjar as a terrorist in 2020 and has strongly rejected Justin Trudeau's allegations as "absurd" and "motivated."