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minister in 1986 — attended a reception in Mumbai but Trudeau's office said a later invitation to a party in New Delhi was revoked as soon as his name was spotted on the guest list.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

    Indian-Origin Child, 3, Died In UK, Parents Allege Medical Negligence

    Indian-Origin Child, 3, Died In UK, Parents Allege Medical Negligence
    The boy died at Leicester Royal Infirmary in the city of Leicester in November 2015 after being taken to the hospital for vomiting and diarrhoea.

    Indian-Origin Child, 3, Died In UK, Parents Allege Medical Negligence

    $153 Million In Federal Cash To Fund Child Care And Education Training In BC

    Universal child care will allow parents to return to work secure in the knowledge that their children are being cared for by qualified early childhood educators

    $153 Million In Federal Cash To Fund Child Care And Education Training In BC

    B.C. Budget's Housing, Child Care Measures Good For Business: Premier

    John Horgan told the Greater Vancouver Board of Trade today that the financial plan will help attract and retain workers.

    B.C. Budget's Housing, Child Care Measures Good For Business: Premier

    Two Women In Custody In Victoria After Separate Alleged Assaults On Police

    Victoria Police Department Says Two Of Its Officers Were Assaulted In Separate Incidents.

    Two Women In Custody In Victoria After Separate Alleged Assaults On Police

    Charter Plane With 10 People On Board Slides Off Runway In Abbotsford, B.C.

    Charter Plane With 10 People On Board Slides Off Runway In Abbotsford, B.C.
    Airport general manager Parm Sidhu said officials were trying to confirm what happened but no one was seriously hurt.

    Charter Plane With 10 People On Board Slides Off Runway In Abbotsford, B.C.

    SEE PICS: NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh Marries Toronto-Based Designer Gurkiran Kaur Sidhu

    SEE PICS: NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh Marries Toronto-Based Designer Gurkiran Kaur Sidhu
    NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh is now a married man. Singh posted the picture of the wedding ceremony with his new-wife, Gurkiran Kaur, on social media.

    SEE PICS: NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh Marries Toronto-Based Designer Gurkiran Kaur Sidhu