00:00 A chief of Canada's New Democratic Party stated an apparent involvement of a foreign
00:05 nation in the assassination of Khalistani extremist Hadeeb Singh Nijjar.
00:08 NDP leader Jagmeet Singh, while addressing the media, said, "As the Prime Minister
00:12 shared publicly, there is Canadian intelligence which indicates that a Canadian citizen was
00:17 killed on Canadian soil and a foreign government was implicated."
00:20 Singh's New Democratic Party is the fourth-largest party in the House of Commons, or lower house
00:25 of the Canadian Parliament.
00:26 Reacting to the allegations by Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau against India,
00:31 Singh said that his views were based on the intelligence briefing he received.
00:35 "This is unprecedented intelligence that has come forward and that is why we are going
00:39 to continue to urge that the Canadian government have a thorough investigation that those responsible
00:44 are brought forward," the NDP leader said.
00:48 Responding to a question, Singh said, "The United States has been very supportive of
00:51 Canada's call for transparency from India.
00:54 We are going to continue to push for those things," he added.
00:57 He further said there is a very real fear of Sikhs being targeted in Canada.
01:01 "For a long time, members of the Sikh community have been targeted by actions of the Indian
01:05 government and for a long time it's gone, often unnoticed or unrecognized.
01:10 For a lot of people, hearing the Prime Minister of a G7 nation provide intelligence that connects
01:14 the killing of Khalistani terrorists on Canadian soil by foreign government really confirmed
01:18 a lot of fears that people have felt and has made those fears even more real and more tangible,"
01:24 Singh said.
01:25 He also claimed that many other Indian diaspora communities criticize the Indian government
01:29 and its policies and share the same fear.
01:32 "I speak of other religious minority communities like Muslims, other communities that are oppressed
01:37 like women and groups that are from low-caste backgrounds or tribal backgrounds who have
01:41 expressed very deep concerns about the treatment that they have received.
01:45 They are also feeling that real sense of fear and worry," he said.
01:48 Tensions escalated between India and Canada due to Canada's Prime Minister Trudeau's
01:52 accusations of possible involvement of Indian representatives in the assassination of 45-year-old
01:57 Harjeet Singh Nijjar, labelled as a Khalistani terrorist in Canadian territory, specifically
02:02 in British Columbia, on June 18.
02:04 Nijjar was identified as a terrorist by India in 2020.
02:09 In response to what it deemed as absurd, unmotivated allegations, India retaliated by removing a
02:14 high-ranking Canadian diplomat.
02:15 This action mirrored Ottawa's decision to expel an Indian officer over the same matter.
02:20 Meanwhile, India declared a temporary halt on visa issuance to Canadian nationals and
02:24 has requested Ottawa to reduce its diplomatic representation in the country.
02:33 [BLANK_AUDIO]
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