In response to the diplomatic dispute between India and Canada, Sri Lanka’s Foreign Minister Ali Sabry stated on Monday that terrorists have found refuge in Canada and that Justin Trudeau, the country’s prime minister, has made outrageous claims without any supporting evidence.
Given that Trudeau frequently makes “outrageous and substantiated allegations,” Mr. Sabry claimed he is “not surprised” by his comments.
“Canada has become a haven for some terrorists. The Canadian PM has this way of just coming out with some outrageous allegations without any supporting proof. The same thing they did for Sri Lanka, a terrible, total lie about saying that Sri Lanka had a genocide. Everybody knows there was no genocide in our country,” he said.
After Justin Trudeau claimed on September 18 that India was complicit in the killing of Khalistan Tiger Force commander Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Canada, relations between India and Canada reached a new low. On June 18, Nijjar, an Indian terrorist, was assassinated in Surrey, Canada, outside a gurdwara.
The claims were deemed “absurd and motivated” by India, who had dismissed them.
Taking a dig at Trudeau for honouring a former Nazi soldier in Canada’s parliament, he said, “I saw yesterday he had gone and given a rousing welcome to somebody who has associated with the Nazis in the past during the Second World War. So, this is debatable and we have dealt with it in the past. I am not surprised that sometimes PM Trudeau comes out with absurd and substantiated allegations.”
98-year-old Ukrainian Yaroslav Hunka, who served in the first Ukrainian division, also known as the SS division “Galicia” during World War II, was honoured by the Speaker of the Canadian House of Commons last Friday during a speech by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in the Canadian Parliament. Mr. Sabry claimed that Trudeau’s “genocide” remark had harmed ties between Sri Lanka and Canada.
That actually had an impact on our relationship. The Foreign Ministry views that differently. While the Minister of Global Affairs has stated unequivocally that Sri Lanka did not experience a genocide, Prime Minister Trudeau stands up and asserts that a genocide had occurred. That directly conflicts with one another. That doesn’t help, Mr. Sabry said.
In addition, he gave the Canadian prime minister advice not to meddle in the domestic affairs of a sovereign state.
“I don’t believe anyone should snoop around in other nations and advise on how we should run our own. We have the deepest love for our nation. We are in our country for that reason. We are not very happy about that statement at all. Indian Ocean identity is very important and we need to strengthen the regional architecture. We have to look after our region. We need to work together. That’s how we can create a peaceful environment. We should not be dictated by anyone else as to how we should conduct our activities,” he continued.
Sri Lanka has already dismissed Trudeau’s statement containing “outrageous claims” of genocide linked to the past conflict in Sri Lanka.
