Former Canadian PM slams culture of cultivating Khalistanis and Jihadists

NEW DELHI: Former Canadian PM Stephen Harper, under whose watch ties with India prospered, has lashed out against the practice of cultivating Khalistanis and Jihadists and suggested tougher immigration rules.

Harper expressed his views at an event organised by the Abraham Global Peace Initiative (AGPI) in a conversation with AGPI founder and CEO Avi Benlolo.

In a column in the Canadian daily National Post on Friday, Benlolo quoted Harper as saying, "We must stop cultivating Jihadists, antisemites, Khalistanis, Tamil Tigers, and other divisive groups. When it comes to our immigration system, we are going to have to ask ourselves some hard questions about how we screen people." "We cannot start importing age-old hatreds onto our streets," he said.


Harper was the PM from 2006 to 2015.