Trudeau says Canada does not want to fight India; ‘If bigger countries violate’

Canada Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has again accused India of violating the Vienna Convention as over 40 Canadian diplomats moved out of India at the request of New Delhi amid the ongoing diplomatic crisis. Trudeau recently spoke on the crisis and said if bigger countries can violate international law without consequences, then the whole world gets more dangerous for everyone. "From the very beginning when we learnt of credible allegations that agents of the Indian government were involved in the killing of a Canadian citizen on Canadian soil, we reached out to India and asked them to get to the bottom of this matter. We also reached out to our friends and allies like the United States and others to work on this really serious violation of international law and sovereignty," Trudeau said on Hardeep Singh Nijjar's killing.

"If might starts to make right again, if bigger countries can violate international law without consequences, then the whole world gets more dangerous for everyone," he added.

"We were so disappointed when India violated the Vienna Convention and arbitrarily revoked diplomatic immunity of over 40 Canadian diplomats. Think about it from our perspective. We have serious reasons to believe that agents of the government of India could have been involved in the killing of a Canadian citizen and India's response is to kick out a whole bunch of Canadian diplomats by violating the rights under the Vienna Convention – that is of concern to countries around the world.," Trudeau said.

"If a given country can just decide that the diplomats of another country are no longer protected, that makes international relations more dangerous and more serious. But every step of the way, we have tried to work constructively and positively with India and will continue. This is not a fight we want to be having right now. But we will always unequivocally stand up for the rule of law because that is what Canada is," Trudeau said.

Canada will continue to work with all partners as law enforcement investigative agencies will do their work, Trudeau said adding: "Canada is a country that will always stand up for the rule of law."

"We have been very very clear that we want to work constructively on this matter with India. From the very beginning, we shared the real allegations that we are deeply concerned about. We had reached out to the Indian government and partners around the world to get to the bottom of this, to take it seriously," Trudeau said.

Hardeep Singh Nijjar killing, India-Canada diplomatic meltdown

India has rejected Canada's accusation that it played a role in Hardeep Singh Nijjar's killing and made it clear that this is not New Delhi's way of functioning. Canada instead provides safe haven to terrorists despite India's several prods, New Delhi claimed. India had suspended visa services in Canada which has now been partially restored. Over 40 diplomats who were previously posted in India had to shift out as India accused them of interfering in India's internal affairs.

In a recent development, Canada told India that it took the threat to Air India flights on November 19 very seriously. The threat was issued by Sikhs for Justice general counsel Gurpatwant Pannun.

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