'Big win for Indian narrative': Canadian journalists on Trudeau's deposition

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has faced flak not only from India, but also back home after he acknowledged that he had only intelligence and no concrete proof regarding his charge that Indian agents were behind the murder of Khalistani terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar. Canadian journalist Daniel Bordman called it a "major win" for the Indian narrative, while another political commentator said Trudeau's deposition was an "absolute disaster".

"This is a pretty big win for the Indian narrative right now... From the Canadian perspective, we had gone pretty hard. We had gone to the point where we had kicked out a diplomat... We have named the Indian High Commission. We started this publicly," Bordman, who has been criticising Trudeau for upping the ante against India over the Khalistan issue, told ANI.

The Canadian journalist also flagged that the diplomatic spat between India and Canada centred around whether Nijjar was a Khalistani terrorist or a community activist. "That general disagreement has not moved," he said.

"On the geopolitical technicality aspect, India wins here because you never said you had evidence," Bordman said.

Hardeep Nijjar was gunned down in Surrey, British Columbia, in June last year. Weeks later, Trudeau claimed that Indian agents were allegedly involved in the killing of the Khalistani terrorist.

The latest flare-up between Delhi and Ottawa occurred after the Canadian government said that Indian diplomats, including the High Commissioner, were "persons of interest" in the murder investigation. It was followed by a tit-for-tat expulsion of six diplomats.

On Wednesday, testifying at Canada's foreign interference inquiry, Trudeau conceded that his government only had "intelligence" and not "evidentiary proof" of links between Indian government officials and Nijjar's killing. The admission gave India further ammo to target Trudeau for pandering to the Khalistani vote bank to secure his political future.

Kirk Lubimov, a political commentator and entrepreneur, called Trudeau's testimony "lies" and an "absolute disaster". "Did Justin Trudeau just say there is no evidence in regards to India kerfuffle?... This ain't good," he said.

"I didn't think he could make this week any worse for Canada, but he did it, and it's only Wednesday," Lubimov further tweeted.

Another Canadian journalist, Sameer Kaushal, commented, "What did Prime Minister Justin Trudeau just say? Not hard evidentiary proof".