Is the killing of Khalistan sympathiser Hardeep Singh Nijjar being used by the Justin Trudeau government to gain sympathy and increase support base in Canada?
In exclusive information, CNN-News18 has learnt that Liberal MP Sukh Dhaliwal, who has been training guns on India over Nijjar’s killing, has been rewarded for polishing Trudeau’s ratings by appointing him as chairman of the Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration.
According to sources, the ‘reward’ has come for Nijjar for his mass Sikh support base and proximity to Pakistan’s ISI.
Sources say Dhaliwal visited Pakistan approximately four months back and was accorded a grand welcome, with his posters adorning every wall in the country. It is here that the conspiracy was hatched to give a fillip to the diminishing rankings of both Dhaliwal and Trudeau.
Dhaliwal floated the idea to Trudeau when he returned from Pakistan, they added, and they decided to use Nijjar’s death to gain the sympathy of Khalistanis.
Born in Sujapur village, Ludhiana, Dhaliwal studied civil engineering from Guru Nanak Dev Engineering College and was one of the 16 Indo-Canadian Punjabis who won the Canadian elections in 2021.
This is not the first time Dhaliwal’s name has emerged in connection with his anti-India stance. In 2010, Liberal MPs Dhaliwal and Andrew Kania introduced a petition in the House of Commons asking Ottawa to consider the 1984 Sikh riots in India as an act of genocide.
In the latest Nijjar row, which has escalated into a diplomatic confrontation between India and Canada, Dhaliwal has been vocal in his criticism of India.
Revealing his experience in Parliament this month, he said he was refused an Indian visa for speaking out against what he called “excesses against Sikhs” in India, which he went on to describe “a so-called democracy.” In light of this, he called on lawmakers from across Canada’s political spectrum, including Conservatives, Liberals, and the NDP, to denounce what he claims is Indian government’s intimidation.
He was supported by NDP’s Jagmeet Singh who said India denied him a visa in 2013 when he was a member of Ontario’s provincial legislature. Singh added that the Indian government appeared dissatisfied with his attempts to obtain justice for the victims of the November 1984 anti-Sikh riots.