PTI
Washington, September 20th
A US expert called Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s claim that there was a “potential link” between Indian government agents and the killing of a Khalistani leader a “shameless and cynical action” and urged the United States not to take part .
Michael Rubin, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, took part in a panel discussion at the Hudson Institute think tank and claimed that Trudeau is playing into the hands of people who view the Khalistani movement as a movement of ego and profit.
Canada and India each expelled a senior diplomat after Trudeau alleged the involvement of “agents of the Indian government” in the killing of prominent Sikh separatist leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar, 45, in Surrey in June. Claims were flatly rejected by New Delhi as “absurd” and “motivated”.
Nijjar, the head of the banned Khalistan Tiger Force (KTF) and one of India’s most wanted terrorists, who carried a cash reward of Rs 10 lakh on his head, was shot dead by two gunmen outside a gurdwara in Surrey in the western Canadian province of British Columbia on 18th of June.
What’s striking about Trudeau’s “shameless actions and cynical actions” is that while he is issuing a statement now, the killing of Karima Baluch, allegedly carried out with Pakistani assistance, is a police matter and has not been submitted to the Prime Minister’s Office, Rubin said.
“So the question then becomes, where does the discrepancy come from, if not populist political posturing? That might help Justin Trudeau in the long run, but that’s not what leadership is all about. We really need our politicians on both sides of the aisle here and in Canada (there). a) have to act much more responsibly because they are playing with fire,” he said.
It appears, Rubin said, that some outsiders are trying to revive the Khalistan movement.
“I don’t think it will work,” he said, adding that he did not want the U.S. to give legitimacy to such “cynical maneuvers by external powers.”
“It would be a mistake to suddenly see a separatist movement and argue that it is legitimate. And I’m less worried about the United States and more worried about what we’re seeing in Canada right now with Justin Trudeau, where the same knee-jerk reaction is at play in the hands of people who see the Khalistani movement as a movement for ego, a movement for profit and for politics,” he said.
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