The Indian high commissioner Sanjay Verma who was recently recalled from Canada, has dropped shocking details about Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s deep Khalistani connections. Trudeau has been personally targeting the Indian government for the past year, on the grounds of foreign interference. The Canadian leader has so far not been able to show any proof regarding his allegations. The Indian government has branded Trudeau’s baseless accusations as absurd, and politically motivated.

In a detailed interview the former High Commissioner to Canada, Sanjay Verma expands on Trudeau’s connection with extremist figures, “Justin Trudeau has a number of friends who are anti-Indian elements and Khalistani extremists. He has such a circle. When he visited India in 2018, we know what happened. There are people around him who have sympathy towards Khalistan.”

Verma was referring to Trudeau’s disastrous India visit where he brought along Khalistani terrorist Jaspal Atwal as an officially invited guest. Verma also explained that Khalistani extremists in Canada have resorted to hooliganism outside the Indian consulates and diplomats were intimidated through social media. He said that there were continuous threats to the consulate employees.

“There have been threats to Indian leaders and diplomats. Very recently, I was portrayed as Ravan and my effigy was burnt. There was another poster where people would come and practise firearms on my face. Many things have gone on there which would not happen in a polite society that respects others,” he added.

Regarding the Canadian Prime Minister, he said, “Trudeau’s ratings are going down in Canada… (so) his actions against India are politically motivated. There are elements that want to hurt India-Canada ties. Many in Trudeau government are anti-India”.

Attack on Verma in Canada

Verma also recalled a frightening personal incident, where Khalistani assailants attacked him with a sword in Alberta while he was with his wife. In an interview, Verma said that Khalistani ‘goons’ came very close to causing him bodily harm adding that they were not carrying the ‘kirpan’, (a religious object), but a sword that could serious harm. “Yes, a couple of times they came very close to bodily harm us. They were carrying a sword, it was not a Kirpan. When I was in Alberta a sword came around 2-2.5 inches close to my body.”

Verma said that the Khalistani radicals surrounded the exit gate and attacked him when he was out to attend a cultural event with the Indian diaspora. “(It) was a business event. So many businessmen from Canada were there. And the main thing was how we could advance the business relationship, what new things we could bring, what new sectors we could bring. This was in a convention hall. Outside, around 150 people were there who were doing bad things in the name of Khalistan. And they surrounded the entrance from which I had to go. When I entered, there were RCMP and local police.”

Recalling the horrific event Verma elaborated what he and his wife were subject to, “But maybe they didn’t think that they would do such a bad thing. My wife was accompanying me. When I was passing, there was a sword. They may not know the difference between sword and a kirpan. But we Indians who have seen Sikhism, who are so patriotic, where we have seen them, by the grace of Wahe Guru, we know the difference between a sword and a kirpan. So this was a sword, which came about 2 to 2.5 inches away from my body.”

Verma added that the local police held an interrogation later, but he was not given the details about the same. “The local police got into action immediately and pushed them back. They also held an interrogation. I was not informed about the final results. We also informed the Global Affairs of Canada about the incident. They also believed that this is not right. And we also tried to explain to them that there is a difference between a sword and a kirpan. There is a difference between a spear and a kirpan. And this is not a religious belonging that they carry,” he said.

Verma also said that it was Canada’s own assessment that the Indian diplomats could be harmed. So, they were given protection from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP). “Let’s look at their own assessment. The very fact that I was given a close protection detail of RCMP and my two consul generals were given the same, also shows that their assessment was that we could be bodily harmed. I’m talking about their assessment,” he said.

Khalistani threats to Indo-Canadians

In the interview to ANI, Verma also informed that Khalistani radicals are constantly threatening even regular peace-loving Indo-Canadians, making their life extremely difficult, vandalizing their places of worship. “Indo-Canadians are being threatened by the hooligans who are Khalistani goons. They are Khalistani terrorists and extremists.”

“They go in our society of peace-loving Indo-Canadians and threaten them. They go to our places of worship and vandalize them. So if that is being tolerated by the system, the present system in particular, then how can you assure them for normalcy? So probably someone will have to sit down, look at it. Why is it unfair for those Indo-Canadians who believe in a certain religion, in a certain faith, and want to live peacefully and contribute to the growth and development of Canada, being threatened by a handful of goons. That has to be looked at,” he said.

He also explained how the Khalistnais are a threat not just to India but to Canada as well, “The Khalistani extremists and terrorists out of Canada are Canadian citizens. So they have a lot of political influence there and they have wielded it often. They impress upon political parties to have their own views. This dependency smells of conspiracy against India. These Khalistani extremists are not pro India but they are also not pro Canada. They are destroying relations between India and Canada.”

Deteriorating relations between the countries

Since Justin Trudeau began his baseless allegations on India, the Indian diplomats in Canada have come under extreme pressure and harassment by local Khalistani radicals. They have been waylaid and heckled even when they have been present with their families. Khalistanis have used the pictures and names of Indian diplomats on public posters to threaten their lives. The Canadian government has largely adopted a silent stance, watching the unfolding attacks.

A few days back, Trudeau put the lives of the High ambassador Sanjay Verma in great peril when he named him and six others as “persons of interest” in the killing of extremist Khalistani Hardeep Singh Nijjar. Charges that the Indian government has rejected as “absurd” and “preposterous”. Hardeep Singh Nijjar was an extremist Khalistani who had been listed as a terrorist by the NIA (National Investigative Agency of India). Nijjar was shot dead in a gang violence attack in Canada. Since then Trudeau and his government have been accusing India of his assassination.

In a hard-hitting statement, India responded that the Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau’s hostility to India has long been in evidence and his government has consciously provided space to violent extremists and terrorists “to harass, threaten and intimidate Indian diplomats and community leaders in Canada”.

India had proceeded to expel six Canadian diplomats as it conveyed that the “baseless targeting” of the Indian High Commissioner and other official diplomats was completely unacceptable.