Canada does not support any separatist movement: Trudeau assures Capt Amarinder

Amritsar/Chandigarh: Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Wednesday assured Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh that his country did not support any separatist movement in India or elsewhere. 

The categorical assurance from Mr Trudeau came when Capt Amarinder sought the Canadian Prime Minister's cooperation in cracking down on separatism and hate crime by a fringe element, constituting a miniscule percentage of Canada's population.

Citing the separatist movement in Quebec, Mr Trudeau said he had dealt with such threats all his life and was fully aware of the dangers of violence, which he had always pushed back with all his might, the Chief Minister's Media Advisor Raveen Thukral said after the meeting.

During a 40-minute long meeting between the two leaders here, the Chief Minister handed over to Mr Trudeau a list of nine category `A' Canada-based operatives alleged to be involved in hate crimes in Punjab by financing and supplying weapons for terrorist activities, and also engaged in trying to radicalize youth and children here.

At the meeting, at which Canadian Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan and Punjab Local Government Minister Navjot Singh Sidhu were also present, the Chief Minister raised the issue of Indo-Canadians believed to be involved in targeted killings in Punjab, urging him to take cognizance of the same and initiate stern action against such elements.

Though freedom of speech was enshrined in the Indian Constitution, separatists and hardliners as well as those propagating violence, had lost any such right as they had been rejected outright by the people of Punjab, said Capt Amarinder. He pointed out that people fighting elections on the plank of a separate Sikh state ended up losing their security deposits, said Mr Thukral, adding that the Chief Minister thanked Mr Trudeau for his explicit stand on a united India.