New Delhi: India’s high commissioner to Canada Sanjay Kumar Verma said that Canadian authorities have not yet provided India with concrete evidence of Indian involvement in Hardeep Singh Nijjar’s death.“There is no specific or relevant information provided in this case for us to assist them in the investigation,” Verma was quoted as saying by Canadian newspaper The Globe and Mail.He added: “Where is the evidence? Where is the conclusion of the investigation? … I would go a step further and say now the investigation has already been tainted. A direction has come from someone at a high level to say India or Indian agents are behind it.”Verma was referring to Canada’s allegations that Indian government agents were possibly behind the fatal shooting of pro-Khalistan activist and Canadian citizen Hardeep Singh Nijjar near Vancouver in June.Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau publicly referred to the allegations in his country’s parliament in September.Trudeau later said that his government had provided India with what he said were credible allegations “many weeks” prior to his statements in parliament.Relations between the two countries have soured over the issue, and India ordered 41 Canadian diplomats to leave the country and temporarily suspended its visa operations in Canada.India, which has accused Nijjar of being a terrorist, denies the allegations.Officials in Canada reportedly intercepted communications between Indian diplomats that implicated India in Nijjar’s death.But Verma told The Globe and Mail that conversations between diplomats are protected and cannot be released publicly.“You are talking about illegal wiretaps and talking about evidence. Conversations between two diplomats are secure by all international law,” the newspaper quoted him as saying.“Show me how you captured these conversations. Show me that someone did not mimic the voice,” Verma continued to say.US ambassador to Canada David Cohen said that intelligence inputs from the Five Eyes network contributed to Trudeau’s decision to go public with the allegations against India.More recently, Australia’s domestic spy chief Mike Burgess had said that there was “no reason to dispute” claims by Canada of Indian involvement in Nijjar’s killing.Canada has not yet publicly revealed the information in its possession that led Trudeau to make public the allegations against India.Indian external affairs minister S. Jaishankar previously said that India was open to looking at specific evidence were Canadian authorities to share any.“We told the Canadians saying that look, if you have something specific, if you have something relevant, you know, let us know – we are open to looking at it, he was quoted as saying by the BBC.Jaishankar and his opposite number in Canada Melanie Joly have recently said that they are in touch with each other.“I feel that there is room for diplomacy here. I know that my counterpart in Canada has also expressed the same position. So, we have been in touch,” PTI quoted Jaishankar as saying.Also Read: ‘Prickly Nationalism’: From a G20 High to a Post-Canada LowIndia cited security threats to its missions in Canada when it suspended visa services in the country in September.Soon after Nijjar’s death in June, Verma was named in a pro-Khalistan poster blaming the Indian government for Nijjar’s death and was called a “killer in Toronto”.In his interview with The Globe and Mail, Verma said the threats against him were “hate speech” and an “incitement to violence”.“I am concerned about my safety and security. I am concerned about the safety and security of my consul generals. God forbid if something happens,” he said.But despite the downturn in relations, Verma told The Globe and Mail that India would like to expand business ties with Canada and that it would welcome a delegation of Canadian businesspeople to India.He also said that a business deal between the countries that Canada suspended days before the G20 meeting in New Delhi earlier this year “should be signed as soon as possible so that traders and investors can take advantage of that”.When asked by the newspaper what steps were needed to repair ties between the two countries, Verma said he did not oppose Canada’s investigation into Nijjar’s death but reiterated the Indian government’s stance that Canada must not let pro-Khalistan activities take place there.“Don’t allow your soil to be used by a group of Canadian citizens who want to dismember India … Who want to challenge the sovereignty and territorial integrity of India,” Verma was quoted as saying.
