Justin Trudeau labels his officials as ‘criminals’ over report linking PM Modi to Nijjar killing: ‘Got stories wrong’

Canada: Amid escalating tensions with India, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said his own intelligence officials ‘had got wrong stories’ of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and foreign minister S. Jaishankar being related to the violence in Canada.

“We have seen, unfortunately, that criminals leaking top-secret information to the media have consistently gotten those stories wrong,” said Trudeau while addressing the media on Friday, at Brampton.

“That’s why we had a national enquiry into foreign interference, which has highlighted that criminals leaking information to media outlets are unreliable on top of being criminals,” Trudeau added.

Justin Trudeau’s statement came after Canadian government carried out a fact-check on Thursday and uncovered false reports of PM Modi and S. Jaishankar being related to violence on foreign soil, stated multiple reports.

What was the ‘fake’ Canadian report?

This week, a report by Globe and Mail newspaper claimed that Canadian security agencies believed Prime Minister Modi was aware of violent plots, and that foreign Minister S. Jaishankar and National Security Adviser Ajit Doval were also involved.

The report, however, had also mentioned that the source admitted that “Canada does not have direct evidence that Mr. Modi knew…”

Canada says report was ‘inaccurate’

The Canadian government later clarified that the controversial report linking Modi to Nijjar’s killing was “speculative and inaccurate”. “The Government of Canada has not stated, nor is it aware of evidence, linking Prime Minister Modi, Minister Jaishankar, or NSA Doval to the serious criminal activity within Canada. Any suggestion to the contrary is both speculative and inaccurate,” it said.

India Canada row

Last month, Canada’s foreign ministry accused Home Minister Amit Shah of orchestrating a campaign of intimidation in Canada. Ottawa also stated it has evidence connecting Indian government agents to the 2023 murder of Khalistan terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a Canadian passport holder.