Canadian opposition leader and head of the People’s Party of Canada Maxime Bernier has lashed out at Justin Trudeau’s Liberal Government while calling Hardeep Singh Nijaar a “terrorist”. Trudeau had been defending Nijjar with baseless claims that the Indian government was behind his assassination. Bernier a senior figure in Canadian politics took to social media to post his strong criticisms of the Trudeau Government in the matter.
Bernier is a former member of the Conservative Party, which he left to form his own People’s Party in 2018. He has been a member of Parliament (MP) from 2006 to 2019. Bernier has also served as a Cabinet minister under former Prime Minister Stephen Harper.
Taking to X Bernier attacked the support being given to Khalistani radical Hardeep Singh Nijjar, calling him a foreign terrorist, “One myth should be dispelled though: That the central figure in this controversy, Hardeep Singh Nijjar, the Khalistani militant who was murdered last year, was a Canadian. He was actually a foreign terrorist who used fraudulent documents to claim asylum in Canada several times starting in 1997. His claims were rejected but he was nevertheless allowed to stay in this country and was somehow granted citizenship in 2007.”
The man in question Hardeep Singh Nijjar was an extremist radical Khalistani who was shot dead in Canada last year in a gang violence attack. In 2016, Nijjar had been placed on Canada’s No Fly List and had his personal bank accounts frozen following allegations of his involvement in terror training camps. Nijjar was also associated with the radical group Sikhs for Justice (SFJ), and spearheaded the group’s Khalistan Referendum 2020 campaign. Nijjar had been designated as a terrorist by India’s National Investigation Agency in 2020.
Despite such major crimes to his name Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is currently busy fighting a diplomatic war with India for Nijjar. Instead of cleaning out the extremist separatists being trained in his country Trudeau is now taking on the Indian Government in their defence. This has not gone down well amongst the Canadian public. Bernier has come out publicly to counter Trudeau’s defence of Nijjar.
NIjjar’s Controversial Citizenship
The People’s Party leader, Bernier also advocated to take away Nijaar’s citizenship posthomously, claiming that the separatist Nijjar was not a Canadian “Nijjar wasn’t a Canadian. We should perhaps posthumously take away his citizenship to right this administrative error. He should have been deported after his first fake asylum claim, like the hundreds of thousands of fake asylum claimants who are in Canada right now.”
Nijjar citizenship has always been a matter of controversy. He had entered Canada in 1997 using a fake passport under a false name and applied for asylum claiming he feared persecution in India, because he belonged to a certain group. However, this was rejected after his claims were identified as a ‘fabricated narrative’. Nijjar’s next attempt was through a sham marriage to a woman who sponsored his immigration. This too was rejected after it came to light that the woman herself had entered Canada the same year under a different marriage. Nijjar however was finally successful in becoming a Canadian citizen in 2007.
Bernier also went on to remind Trudeau that India is a rising power and it a major mistake to get into a conflict with India over such an issue, “All this is happening because Canada has for decades deliberately invited these foreigners and their tribal conflicts into our country. We should recognize this major blunder and work with the government of India to find solutions instead of jeopardizing our relations with a rising world power and an important ally over this issue.”
Bernier’s strong words should be taken as a timely reminder by Justin Trudeau, who is leaving no stone unturned in destroying India-Canada relations, while providing a safe haven for Khalistani radicals like NIjjar.
-By Jyotirmay Kaushal
