Hope Canada will take action against separatists, anti-India elements: MEA

India on Thursday said its "core" issue with Canada remained that of the space given to anti-India elements operating from that country.

External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said at a media briefing that India also hoped that Canada will take action against the separatists and anti-India elements.

The core issue remains the space being given to the separatists and anti-India elements, Bagchi said.

The ties between India and Canada have been under severe strain following Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's allegations in September linking Indian agents to the killing of Khalistani separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar in June.

India strongly rejected the charges.

India said Canada hasn’t provided specific evidence of New Delhi’s alleged involvement in the killing of the Sikh separatist leader, and the matter isn’t part of the work being undertaken by a panel established to probe similar accusations by the US.

Notably, the Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in September publicly accused the Indian government of involvement in the killing of Nijjar, allegations that India dismissed as “absurd.” However, Canadian officials had shared evidence with New Delhi, including communications and phone numbers, before Trudeau went public with the allegations, people familiar with the matter have previously said.
 

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Wednesday had said that India's ties with Canada may have undergone "a tonal shift" following the indictment of an Indian national in the US for plotting an assassination attempt on a Sikh separatist on American soil.

"I think there is a beginning of an understanding that they can't bluster their way through this and there is an openness to collaborating in a way that perhaps they were less open before," Trudeau told the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.