New Delhi:

Canada has said its position on the territorial integrity of India is absolute — the first such statement since the wedge driven between the two nations last year over President Justin Trudeau’s allegations about the “potential” involvement of Indian government agents in the killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar. One of India’s most-wanted terrorists, Nijjar was also a Canadian citizen. 

Appearing before the foreign interference commission in Ottawa over the weekend, Canada’s Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs David Morrison said: “Canada’s policy is very clear that India’s territorial integrity must be respected. There’s one India, and that’s been made very clear”.

Regarding the activities of pro-Khalistan elements living in Canada, he, however, said it was “awful but lawful”. There are things that “many of us want not to see” but that are protected under Freedom of Speech rights. 

The declaration about One India, however, was meant to clarify Ottawa’s position on the stance of Khalistanis, many of whom are Canadian citizens. The comment is also seen as a signal to put India-Canada relations — which have been on a free fall — on an even keel.

Canada has been sending feelers to India since the Lok Sabha election earlier this year when Prime Minister Narendra Modi got elected for a historic third term. 

Mr Trudeau had said that talks with India can now resume on “some very serious issues around national security and keeping Canadians safe and the rule of law”.

Last year, India had rejected Mr Trudeau’s allegations as “absurd” and “motivated” and expressed concern about Canada becoming a hub of pro-Khalistan Sikhs. Canada had not acknowledged it. Instead, Mr Trudeau had said Canada will always “defend freedom of expression… conscience and peaceful protest”. It will also prevent violence and push back against hatred, he had amended.

Bilateral relations, subsequently, had plummeted, and trade talks between the two nations had got derailed. 

In June this year, the Canadian parliament had observed a moment of silence in the memory of Nijjar. India had responded with a memorial service in Vancouver to pay tribute to the 329 victims of the Air India flight bombed by Khalistani terrorists in 1985.

Hardeep Singh Nijjar, 45, the chief of the banned Khalistan Tiger Force, was shot dead by two unidentified gunmen on June 18 last year outside a gurdwara in Surrey.

Canada has arrested four Indian nationals in course of their investigations. India had said there are “political interests at work” and reiterated that separatists have been given political space in the country.