'Win For Indian Narrative': Critics Pan Trudeau Over 'No Hard Proof' Remark, Call Him Separatism Supporter

Justin Trudeau’s recent bombshell acknowledging he had only “intelligence” and no “hard evidentiary proof” on his allegations against India has come down as a major embarrassment for Canadians and has added to the heat coming his way. Not only is Trudeau being snubbed by world leaders, but is also receiving flak on his home turf, as many experts and Canadian journalists have already termed him a “habitual liar”. Meanwhile, Trudeau’s admission hasn’t come as a surprise to India, which reaffirmed its stand on the massive diplomatic row with Canada, and said what the Canadian Prime Minister admitted only confirms “what we have been saying all along.”

Canadian journalist Daniel Bordman, who slammed Trudeau on various earlier occasions, and claimed he supports Khalistanis and separatists, has now said Trudeau’s statement is a “pretty big win for the Indian narrative.” He also said, “India wins here because you never said you had evidence.”

“This is a pretty big win for the Indian narrative right now. From the Canadian perspective, we had gone pretty hard, we had gone to the point where we had kicked out a diplomat, we had named the Indian High Commission, and we started this publicly. He (Justin Trudeau) was then asked about this, and he came out and said, we have intelligence. On the geopolitical technicality aspect, India wins here because you never said you had evidence,” Bordman said in a message posted by news agency ANI.

The Canadian journalist further pointed out that the diplomatic spat between India and Canada centres around whether Hardeep Singh Nijjar is a Khalistani terrorist or a community activist.

“But what does it change from the grand structures of things? Ultimately, the diplomatic spat is really about the unanswered question, was Hardeep Singh Nijjar a Khalistani terrorist or a community activist? And that general disagreement has not moved,” Bordman said.

“That’s a very good statement to hear if you’re a Canadian because the signalling there is that the relationships while Justin Trudeau is the Prime Minister, are in cryostasis. It leaves the door open that if there is a change of government and a less generally hostile administration, deals can be made and we can all get back to normal, but they do lay the blame here on Prime Minister Trudeau, who claimed to have hard evidence against Indian diplomats and then came out with intelligence. The story of it was a one-time crime, they used gangsters to be part of the assassination of a Khalistani terrorist leader on Canadian soil.”

“It is good to hear, as Canadians that this can end when the Trudeau government ends. If you look at the polling, the Liberals are about to get obliterated in any poll. There’s an internal caucus revolt right now. There are so many scandals that this Indian scandal will be lost in the noise of the next scandal, which should debut in a week or so. And that’s a win for India. They didn’t come out with hard evidence, they came out with intel and India gets to stick to its guns. And what’s the world going to do? Embargo India? Start a trade war with India, where we have the problems of Iran and Russia and the rest of the Middle East to deal with?” Bordman asked.

Bordman also criticised Trudeau’s “Canada’s position has always been to defend the territorial integrity of India” statement and said that his actions don’t align with his words.

“Trudeau says things and then Trudeau does things. Oftentimes, what Trudeau says he is doing does not match with the reality of what he is doing. He might claim that he is against Khalistani separatism but he would also promote Khalistani separatism. Don’t think it is outlandish to assume that he is being untruthful when he says he is doing something when he is not doing that thing. This is a common Justin Trudeau thing which leads back to his scandals and unpopularity,” Bordman said.

In a post, Bordman also likened Canada’s separatism to Pakistan’s terrorism, and said, “The Khalistani movement is responsible for the worst terrorist attack in Canadian history, the Air India bombing. THEY are the mass murderers of Canadian and constantly threaten to repeat it. Not only that, but they are the key players in the mass migration crisis centred on all these fake student visas and asylum claims. As a Canadian patriot I think anyone who participates in Khalistani activities should be sent on a direct flight to Islamabad.” (sic).

JUSTIN TRUDEAU DRAWS THE IRE

Echoing Bordman, columnist Brian Lilley, in an X post wrote, “There is no issue that Justin Trudeau won’t play political games with. That includes national security and foreign interference.”

Earlier, in an X post, Lilley had said, “Behind all the drama and political posturing of MPs calling for Trudeau to go remains one clear fact, voters are already done with him.” (sic).

Former Iranian prisoner Salman Sima shared a video of Trudeau saying he “admires China’s basic dictatorship” and said it explains the diplomatic tensions between Canada and India. 

In the video, Trudeau could be heard saying he admires China’s basic dictatorship, because “their basic dictatorship is allowing them to actually turn their economy around on a dime and say we need to go greenest fastest, we need to start investing in solar, that I find quite interesting.”

“When Justin Trudeau says he admires China’s “basic dictatorship,” he means it. This explains foreign interference in this country, it also explains why Justin Trudeau hasn’t released the names of MPs who are working for foreign dictatorships. It also explains the diplomatic tensions between Canada and India,” Sima tweeted. 

Another X user posted a video of Trudeau’s admission and wrote, “This ain’t good.”

Kirk, in yet another post, wrote, “Has Justin Trudeau‘s government lost its mind?! CBC decided to platform a designated by India as terrorist Khalistani Gurpatwant Singh Pannun who claims that his group, Sikhs for Justice, has been communicating and working with Justin Trudeau‘s office for the past 2-3 years.” 

Another X user Ryan Gerritsen termed the entire episode “unbelievable”.

X user Bret, in reference to Trudeu’s stance on former US President Donald Trump, said every word Trudeau speaks is a lie.

“Does he not realize that he is probably the most authoritarian PM Canada has ever had, and almost every word he speaks is a lie? We need to get rid of him now!” he wrote.

On all occasions, India has strongly rejected attempts by the Canadian authorities to link Indian agents with criminal gangs in Canada with official sources in New Delhi even saying that Ottawa’s assertion that it shared evidence with New Delhi in the Nijjar case was simply not true.

Sources in New Delhi also rejected Trudeau’s previous allegations that India was engaging in activities, including carrying out covert operations targeting Canadian nationals in his country.

Hardeep Singh Nijjar, declared a terrorist by India, was shot dead outside a gurdwara in Surrey, British Columbia, on June 18 last year.

JUSTIN TRUDEAU’s ADMISSION – ‘NO HARD EVIDENTIARY PROOF’ AGAINST INDIA

On Wednesday, Trudeau acknowledged that he had only intelligence and no “hard evidentiary proof” when he alleged the involvement of Indian government agents in the killing of Khalistani terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar last year.

Testifying before the public inquiry into foreign interference in federal electoral processes and democratic institutions, Trudeau claimed the Indian diplomats were collecting information on Canadians who are in disagreement with the Narendra Modi government and passing it to the highest levels within the Indian government and criminal organisations like the Lawrence Bishnoi gang.

“I was briefed on the fact that there was intelligence from Canada, and possibly from Five Eyes allies that made it fairly clear, incredibly clear, that India was involved in this. Agents of the government of India were involved in the killing of a Canadian on Canadian soil,” he said.

He added that it was something that his government had to take extremely seriously.

(‘Five Eyes’ network is an intelligence alliance consisting of the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada and New Zealand. It is both surveillance-based and signals intelligence.)

“India had indeed done it, and we had reasons to believe that they had,” Trudeau said, adding that his government’s immediate approach was to engage with the government of India to work on this together to make sure that there was accountability.

Also recalling the G20 summit hosted by India in September last year, the Canadian Prime Minister said it was a big moment for India, and Canada “had the opportunity of making it a very uncomfortable summit” for India if it went public with these allegations.

“We chose not to. We chose to continue to work behind the scenes to try and get India to cooperate with us,” he said.

Trudeau said the Indian side asked for evidence “and our response was, well, it’s within your security agencies.”

“But the Indian side insisted on the evidence. And at that point, it was primarily intelligence, not hard evidentiary proof. So we said, well, let’s work together and look into your security services and maybe we can get that done,” he said.

INDIA’s RESPONSE

The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) on Thursday said what it has heard only “confirms” New Delhi’s consistent stand that Canada has “presented us no evidence” in support of the serious allegations Ottawa chose to level against India and Indian diplomats.

In a statement, the MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said, “What we have heard today only confirms what we have been saying consistently all along — Canada has presented us no evidence whatsoever in support of the serious allegations that it has chosen to level against India and Indian diplomats.”

The ministry further said, “The responsibility for the damage that this cavalier behaviour has caused to India-Canada relations lies with Prime Minister Trudeau alone.”

INDIA-CANADA DIPLOMATIC ROW

On October 14, India expelled six Canadian diplomats and also announced withdrawing its high commissioner from Canada after dismissing Ottawa’s allegations linking the envoy to a probe into the killing of Nijjar.

The escalation in diplomatic row between India and Canada is a major downturn in already frosty ties between the two nations.

The relations between the two countries came under severe strain following Trudeau’s allegations in September last year of a “potential” involvement of Indian agents in Nijjar’s killing.

New Delhi rejected Trudeau’s charges as “absurd”.

India has been maintaining that the main issue between the two countries is that of Canada giving space to pro-Khalistan elements operating from Canadian soil with impunity.