New Zealand’s Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister, Winston Peters, has questioned Canada’s accusation linking India to the killing of pro-Khalistan terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar.
In an interview with an Indian newspaper published today, Peters said that there was no evidence to link New Delhi to Nijjar’s killing, thus contradicting the stance adopted by its Five Eyes (FVEY) intelligence-sharing network allies Canada as well as the US.
“As a trained lawyer, I look okay, so where's the case? Where's the evidence? Where's the finding right here, right now? Well, there isn't one," Peters was quoted as saying by the Indian Express on Wednesday.
Peters, a leader of the New Zealand First Party, stated that his government wasn't in power when Trudeau made the charges against India last September.
"Well, I wasn’t here, it was handled by the previous government. But look, sometimes when you’re hearing Five-Eyes information, you’re hearing it and saying nothing. It is coming past you. You don’t know the value or the quality of it, but you’re pleased to have it. You don’t know whether there is going to be substantial material value or nothing. But the very, very critical information that matters. This was mainly handled by the previous government," he was quoted as saying.
Significantly, Canada's state broadcaster reported last September that Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made charges linking Indian government "agents" to Nijjar's killing on the basis of intelligence inputs provided by a Five Eyes ally.
Trudeau's unsubstantiated charges stirred a major diplomatic row with India as New Delhi expelled over 40 Canadian diplomats in the aftermath of the allegations.
The US, for its part, asked India to cooperate in Canada's probe, even though New Delhi has consistently maintained that Ottawa is yet to share any specific evidence to back up its accusations.
US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan has said that the US was in touch with India at the "highest levels" over Canada's charges, with reports indicating that President Joe Biden took up Ottawa's charges with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the margins of the G20 Summit in New Delhi in September.
Nijjar, a designated terrorist in India, was gunned down by unidentified gunmen on the outskirts of Vancouver last June.