Ottawa, Oct 17
Under mounting pressure for its botched-up and without "hard evidentiary proof" investigation on the killing of Khalistani separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) is now evading international media even as the government led by Justin Trudeau continues to work on its deliberate strategy of smearing India for domestic political gains.
The RCMP on Monday held a much-publicised media conference, stating that an "extraordinary situation" compelled it to speak about what its multiple ongoing investigations into the "involvement of agents of the Government of India in serious criminal activity in Canada" have discovered. RCMP Commissioner Michael (Mike) Duheme alleged that investigations revealed that Indian diplomats and consular officials based in Canada leveraged their official positions to engage in clandestine activities and the information collected was then used to target members of the South Asian community. It was widely expected that Duheme would provide substantial evidence to back the claims made by Canada's national police force. However, it never happened. When approached by IANS to provide his insights into the complexities of the issue, Duheme responded through RCMP's Acting Media Relations Office with his colleague Camille Boily-Lavoie suggesting that RCMP spokesperson Brigitte Gauvi could be made available for the interview. However, on Thursday, the RCMP backed out completely, insisting that they would not be able to accommodate the interview request and RCMP's statement on the issue remains sufficient. The RCMP, which serves as the police of jurisdiction in Canada's eight provinces, three territories, and hundreds of municipalities, is already in an eye of storm over its failure to prevent growing violent extremism in the country. On Thursday, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) took a dig at the RCMP and the Trudeau government for sitting on India's 26 extradition requests, including those of some hardcore Khalistani extremists and criminals who are also involved in creating ruckus in Canada. "So far no action has been taken by the Canadian side on our requests. This is very serious. Also we find it very strange that the people we asked to be deported, on whom we asked action to be taken, we are being told - the RCMP (Royal Canadian Mounted Police) is blaming the Indian side - that these people are committing crimes in Canada for which India is to be blamed. So, this is a contradiction which we don't understand," said MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal during a weekly media briefing.