Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s ongoing official visit to India is courting one controversy after another. And the common thread that runs through most of these controversies is the affinity Canada is accused of having towards the Sikh separatist movement, better known as Khalistan.
The latest controversy to rock Prime Minister Trudeau's India visit came on February 20 when the Canadian delegation was meeting with the icons of the Hindi film industry. It is here that PM Trudeau, his wife, Sophie Gregoire Trudeau and Canada’s Minister for Infrastructure and Communities Amarjeet Sohi, were seen brushing shoulders with Jaspal Atwal.
Atwal is a Canadian of Punjabi origin and a member the International Sikh Youth Federation. He has been convicted of attempting to murder Malkiat Singh Sidhu, a former minister in the Punjab government, in 1986 while he was visiting Canada. Atwal was convicted and sent to prison for 20 years. He served a part of his sentence but was released as he appealed the verdict and the appellate court overturned the sentence.
Apart from Sidhu, Atwal also made an attempt on the life of Ujjal Dosanjh, a Canadian politician of Punjabi background and the former health minister of Canada and premier of British Columbia. Dosanjh managed to survive the attack and Atwal the charges, as he was let off by the court in this case too.
According to Canadian media reports, most recently, there are other fingers being pointed at him too. In 2010, Atwal was been convicted for charges of insurance fraud for being part of a nexus that resold cars whose insurance had been falsely claimed. Cracks began to develop in India-Canada relations vis-à-vis PM Trudeau’s visit when photographs of Atwal with Mrs Trudeau and Sohi from the Mumbai dinner were splashed across the media in both countries.
At an event in New Delhi a day after this negative publicity brought PM Trudeau’s dispensation under the cloud, he was questioned by an Indian reporter on how Atwal and Team Trudeau got photographed in one frame. PM Trudeau left this unanswered. Following that, this furore gathered traction and it came to light that Atwal had also been invited to a dinner to be hosted by Canada’s envoy to India, Nadir Patel, on February 22.
At another event in New Delhi, when PM Trudeau was questioned about Atwal being invited to an event by the Canadian administration yet again, he addressed India’s concerns by informing the media that Atwal’s invitation had been rescinded and that the MP who had invited him, had taken responsibility. That Canadian MP is Randeep Sarai, who is part of PM Trudeau’s entourage. It is hard to believe Sarai didn’t know of Atwal’s criminal background.
PM Trudeau’s much-talked-about state visit was prefaced by a cover story published in India’s English weekly magazine, Outlook, headlined “Khalistan –II: Made in Canada”. The story had detailed how Sikh separatist outfits under the umbrella term “Khalistan”, meaning a free homeland of the Sikhs, has been alive and kicking in Canada. As it appears, Outlook had rubbed Canada the wrong way which has now resulted in its invitation for the same dinner hosted by Ambassador Patel, being rescinded too.
