Didn’t get anything worthy of probe: EAM Jaishankar
The Indian side is open to investigation if Canada has any evidence, says external affairs minister
NEW DELHI: India hasn’t received any specific information from Canada on the killing of pro-Khalistan activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar that is worthy of being looked into by investigating agencies, external affairs minister S Jaishankar said on Monday.
The Indian side is open to conducting an investigation if Canada has any evidence or information related to any violence that is relevant to be investigated in the country, he said at a news conference in Mumbai while responding to questions about a fourth arrest made by Canadian authorities in connection with Nijjar’s killing.
“We have never received anything which is specific and worthy of being pursued by our investigative agencies, and I am not aware that anything has changed in the last few days in that regard,” he said. As a consular practice, information on the arrest of foreign nationals is provided to the government or the embassy of the country to which the detained persons belong, he said.
Nijjar was gunned down outside a gurdwara in Surrey town in June last year. A week after arresting and charging three Indian nationals – Karanpreet Singh, 28, Kamalpreet Singh and Karan Brar, both 22 – for the murder of Nijjar, Canadian authorities arrested a fourth Indian who was identified as 22-year-old Amandeep Singh. He was charged with first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder.
In response to another question, Jaishankar said the opposition Congress party holds Prime Minister Narendra Modi accountable for mistakes made by first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru while handling relations with China. He said Indian territory was occupied by China between 1958 and 1962, and even before this period. “When you keep saying land taken by China, it was lost in 1962. I see efforts made to mislead the country,” he said.
India and China have been locked in a military standoff in Ladakh sector of the Line of Actual Control (LAC) following skirmishes between border troops in May 2020. Jaishankar said people have contended that the Chinese are building villages on the border, but this is being done at a place called Longju along the LAC in Arunachal Pradesh that the Chinese side occupied in 1959.
Referring to a Congress spokesperson’s remarks that the Chinese have built a road in Shaksgam Valley which poses a threat to Siachen, Jaishankar said: “Possibly, it has concerns for Siachen. Shaksgam Valley was allowed by Nehru to be part of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir and the Pakistanis handed it over to China in 1963. The Congress party is holding Modi responsible for Nehru’s actions in 1949 and for (Pakistan premier Zulfikar Ali) Bhutto’s actions in 1963, but apparently they (Congress) have no culpability.”