New Delhi : Canadian Immigration Minister Marc Miller on Tuesday rejected External Affairs Minister Dr Jaishankar's remark that Ottawa is lax and that Canada allowed people with links to organised crime to emigrate to the country.
"We are not lax. The Indian foreign minister is entitled to his opinion. I'm going to let him speak his mind. It's just not accurate," said Canada Immigration Minister Marc Miller in an interview with Cable Public Affairs Channel (CPAC), vehemently rejecting Jaishankar's remark.
The External Affairs Minister Dr Jaishankar recently criticised Canada for welcoming individuals from India with connections to organised crime, despite warnings from New Delhi. Jaishankar claimed that some individuals in Canada, with pro-Pakistan leanings, had formed a politically influential lobby.
When asked about the visa status of the accused, the Canadian minister refrained from providing specifics due to the ongoing police investigation, stating, "Such enquiries should be directed to the RCMP."
Currently, India-Canada ties have hit a new low. EAM Jaishankar on Sunday slammed the Justin Trudeau-led Canada government for continually issuing visas to people with links to organised crimes for “political purposes”. He said the country had been giving legitimacy to “extremism, separatism and advocates of violence” in the name of free speech.
A day after Canada claimed to have arrested three Indian nationals allegedly involved in Khalistan terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar's murder, S Jaishankar said Justin Trudeau's country thinks there wouldn't be any reaction to its antics of fostering criminals.
"In some countries, these kinds of people have organised themselves politically and become a political lobby and in some of these democratic countries, the politicians of these countries are made to believe that if they defer to these people or pander to these people, these people have some ability to get a community to support them. So, they have tried to create space for themselves in the politics of these countries. I mean, at this time, it's not so much a problem in the US," S Jaishankar said. He called Canada India's biggest problem in this regard.
