'Back-stabbing': Envoy Sanjay Verma slams Canada over 'person of interest' fiasco

The decision by the Justin Trudeau government sparked a major diplomatic row, with India withdrawing its senior diplomats, including Ambassador Verma. New Delhi has also expelled six Canadian diplomats.

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"Canada declaring me a 'person of interest' is shocking, kind of a stab in the back," he told PTI in an interview.

He termed Canada's shocking move as the most unprofessional approach in bilateral relations. "These are potholes," he added.

Also Read: 'Khalistan terrorists are Canada's deepest asset': Ambassador Sanjay Kumar Verma

"Khalistani terrorists, extremists got shelter in Canada because of Canada's lenient legal system," he said.

Ambassador Verma said Khalistanis in Canada are involved in human trafficking, gun running and extortion.

"There are only a handful, about 10,000 Sikhs, in Canada who are staunch Khalistanis, making Khalistan a business," he said.

Verma recalled how he was summoned by the Canadian government and asked to surrender his diplomatic immunity.

I was on a visit to Toronto. I was sitting at the airport, and I received a message from an interlocutor in global affairs in Canada, which is the foreign ministry in Canada, to come to the foreign ministry in the evening. Unfortunately, I was not available, I was flying back on the 12th (October). Then on the 13th (October), they agreed to receive me in the morning. So, I and my deputy high commissioner, and after a bit of conversation they told me that I, along with five other diplomats and officials, are 'persons of interest' in the inquiry of the killing of (Hardeep Singh) Nijjar. And, therefore, there was a request to waive my diplomatic immunity as well as the diplomatic immunity of my colleagues, so that we could be interrogated by the RCMP which is the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the investigating agency there. So, I took that as a message. We, diplomats, are messengers in any case, so we sent that message back home to advise us what to do," he told the news agency.