Close X
Tuesday, November 5, 2024
ADVT 
National

Justin Trudeau Backs Conspiracy Theory Over Jaspal Atwal's Invite, India Denies Allegations

IANS, 28 Feb, 2018 11:34 AM

    OTTAWA — India's Ministry of External Affairs issued a statement Wednesday saying the Indian government had no role in an incident in which an attempted murderer was invited to a pair of events Prime Minister Justin Trudeau attended during his visit to India last week.

     

    Jaspal Atwal — a B.C. Sikh convicted of trying to kill an Indian cabinet minister in 1986 — attended a reception in Mumbai but Trudeau's office said a later invitation to a party in New Delhi was revoked as soon as his name was spotted on the guest list.

     

    In a background briefing arranged by the Prime Minister's Office, a government official has suggested Atwal's presence was arranged by factions within the Indian government who want to prevent Prime Minister Narendra Modi from getting too cosy with a foreign government they believe is not committed to a united India.

     
     

    But the official spokesman for the Indian ministry said Modi's government had nothing to do with invitations issued to Atwal.

     

    "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," Raveesh Kumar said in a brief statement posted on the ministry website.

     
     

    "Any suggestion to the contrary is baseless and unacceptable," he said.

     

    Conservatives have identified the Canadian official as Trudeau's national security adviser, Daniel Jean, whom Trudeau defended Tuesday as a member of the professional, non-partisan public service.

     

    But Trudeau nevertheless accepted the offer of Liberal backbencher Randeep Sarai, who has taken responsibility for inviting Atwal to events with the prime minister in India, to resign as the chair of the party's Pacific caucus.

     

    "I want to again apologize for my role in recent unfortunate events," Sarai said in a statement, adding that he'll "be exercising better judgment" in future.

     

    Conservative MP Deepak Obhrai, a former parliamentary secretary to the minister of foreign affairs who travelled to India twice with former prime minister Stephen Harper, called the Liberals' suggestion that someone in the Indian government was behind Atwal's attendance "nonsense."

     

    "Who was responsible for taking the picture with his wife? Who was responsible for taking the picture with (Liberal Infrastructure Minister Amarjeet) Sohi? Who was responsible for sending out that invitation? Are you telling me that the government of India was? No," Obhrai said.

     

    Atwal, a one-time member of a Sikh separatist group that is banned in Canada and India as a terrorist organization, was convicted of attempting to kill Indian cabinet minister Malkiat Singh Sidhu on Vancouver Island in 1986.

     

    He was also charged, but not convicted, in connection with a 1985 attack on Ujjal Dosanjh, a staunch opponent of the Sikh separatist movement, who later became B.C. premier and a federal Liberal cabinet minister.

    MORE National ARTICLES

    Commercial Airplane Incidents, Accidents Jump In 2017, Safety Board Says

    A national pilots association is raising alarm bells over new accident numbers showing a year-over-year jump in incidents involving commercial airliners.

    Commercial Airplane Incidents, Accidents Jump In 2017, Safety Board Says

    Case Of Man Accused In Murder Of Halifax Yoga Instructor Back In Court

    Case Of Man Accused In Murder Of Halifax Yoga Instructor Back In Court
    The case of a Halifax man charged with the second-degree murder of a Montreal-born yoga instructor was back in court Tuesday.

    Case Of Man Accused In Murder Of Halifax Yoga Instructor Back In Court

    Toddler Breaks Leg After Boot Sucked Into Escalator At Vancouver Airport

    Toddler Breaks Leg After Boot Sucked Into Escalator At Vancouver Airport
    A Calgary woman is reminding parents about the dangers of escalators after her toddler's foot became stuck in one and he broke his leg.

    Toddler Breaks Leg After Boot Sucked Into Escalator At Vancouver Airport

    Alberta Shrugs Off B.C. Legal Challenge On Wine Ban, Says Much More At Stake

    Alberta Shrugs Off B.C. Legal Challenge On Wine Ban, Says Much More At Stake
    Alberta's economic development minister is shrugging off a legal challenge filed by British Columbia over Alberta's ban on wine from that province.

    Alberta Shrugs Off B.C. Legal Challenge On Wine Ban, Says Much More At Stake

    Sikh Kirpan Ban In Quebec Legislature Upheld By Top Provincial Court

    Superior Court Justice Pierre Journet affirmed the authority of the legislature to "exclude kirpans from its precincts as an assertion of parliamentary privilege over the exclusion of strangers."

    Sikh Kirpan Ban In Quebec Legislature Upheld By Top Provincial Court

    Justin Trudeau Announces Two-way Investment Deal With India Worth $1 Billion

    Justin Trudeau Announces Two-way Investment Deal With India Worth $1 Billion
    MUMBAI, India — Some of India's biggest companies say they will invest more than $250 million in Canada in the coming years in everything from pulp mills to pharmaceuticals and the IT sector.

    Justin Trudeau Announces Two-way Investment Deal With India Worth $1 Billion