Foreign interference commission not mandated to probe Nijjar murder: Canada

The Canadian foreign interference commission was not mandated to investigate the murder of Khalistani separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar and “it is up to the courts to decide accountability”, the country’s High Commission in Delhi said on Thursday, PTI reported.

The statement came two days after the Canadian inquiry commission said in its report that no definitive foreign link could be proved with respect to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s claims of a link between agents of the Indian government and Nijjar’s killing.

The Canadian inquiry commission was tasked with investigating alleged foreign interference in Canada’s federal electoral processes and democratic institutions.

The inquiry commission’s report had cited the Nijjar case to say that disinformation “is also used as a retaliatory tactic, to punish decisions that run contrary to a state’s interests.”

It added: “This may have been the case with a disinformation campaign that followed the prime minister’s announcement regarding suspected Indian involvement in the killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar [though again no definitive link to a foreign state could be proven].”

On Thursday, PTI quoted the diplomatic mission as saying that the “PIFI [Public Inquiry into Foreign Interference] was not mandated to investigate” the murder of Nijjar.

“The statement in question simply reflects that, ultimately, it is up to the courts to decide accountability with respect to this complex matter, which…

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