India said on Thursday that New Delhi had urged the Canadian government to arrest members of the Lawrence Bishnoi gang but pointed out that “our core concerns” remain unaddressed.
Randhir Jaiswal, spokesperson for the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), said this at a press briefing on Thursday, pointing out the current tussle between New Delhi and Ottawa.
We had sent some requisitions to them also about arresting those from the Lawrence Bishnoi gang.
They have not acted upon our basic demands. Jaiswal also said in the media briefing that there is also some political motive underlying this.
MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal says, “We had shared some requests with the Canadian side for the arrest of those from Lawrence Bishnoi’s gang.
They haven’t taken any action on our core concerns. There is also a political motive behind this.”
The comments come in the wake of allegations by RCMP that the Bishnoi gang has ties with “agents” of the Indian government, targeting attacks mainly from the South Asian community and “pro-Khalistani elements” in Canada, the RCMP has maintained.
RCMP Commissioner Mike Duhene and his deputy, Brigitte Gauvin, made the comments at a press briefing in Ottawa on Monday.
One organized crime group, the Bishnoi group in Canada, has publicly attributed and claimed it. We believe that the group is connected to agents of the Government of India,\” RCMP’s Gauvin said.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau accused India on Wednesday of violating his country’s sovereignty, as diplomatic tensions soar over the killing of Khalistan separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar last year.
Ottawa has linked the killings with the Modi government, such as that of Nijjar, a pro-independence Sikh state advocate who was shot dead in June this year in the parking lot of a Sikh temple in Vancouver.
The other party involved in Nijjar’s killing, according to Trudeau, is the Lawrence Bishnoi crime syndicate.
“Canadians opposed to Modi government, their information was relayed to the highest echelons of the Indian government, and then information channeled through criminal organizations like the Lawrence Bishnoi gang (that) led to violence against Canadians on the ground,” Trudeau said.
