PM Narendra Modi looking forward to meet Justin Trudeau today

NEW DELHI: The visiting Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s efforts to reassure Indian political leaders that his government condemns violent extremism suffered a jolt when it came to light that a Canadian Sikh national convicted of an attempt to assassinate a former Punjab minister in 1986 had been invited to Trudeau’s official events during his week-long trip.

Hours after Trudeau assured Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh in a meeting on Wednesday that his government supported a united India, it emerged that a day earlier a former Sikh radical leader Jaspal Atwal had attended a prime ministerial event with the film industry in Mumbai. Atwal had posed for photographs with Trudeau’s wife, Sophie Gregoire Trudeau, and Canada’s infrastructure minister Amarjeet Sohi.

Atwal was also invited by Canada’s high commissioner to India to have dinner with Trudeau at a formal reception on Thursday in Delhi. The invitation was later rescinded.


Meanwhile, the external affairs ministry said it was looking into how Atwal received a visa to travel to India.


Atwal was a member of the International Sikh Youth Federation, a banned terrorist group in Canada and India, when he was convicted of the attempted murder of former Punjab minister Malkiat Singh Sidhu. He was among the four men who ambushed and shot at Sidhu on Vancouver Island in 1986.

According to Canadian media reports, Atwal was also charged and convicted in an automobile fraud, but not convicted in connection with an attack in 1985 on Ujjal Dosanjh, a staunch opponent of the Sikh separatist movement’s push for an independent Sikh state of Khalistan. Dosanjh went on to become premier of British Columbia and later cabinet minister in Ottawa.

He had denied any involvement in the attack on Dosanjh, but admitted his role in the attempt to assassinate Sidhu.

Atwal’s presence raises questions about deficiency of both security and diplomatic preparations for Trudeau’s trip.

Trudeau’s appearances at some events where Sikh radicals also showed up has upset India and cast a shadow on his ongoing visit. He is scheduled to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday.

Atwal did not travel to India with Trudeau’s entourage but got an invitation for the Mumbai and Delhi events. It is not clear how he got into the guest lists at both the events.

Trudeau has been under pressure throughout his tour to answer India’s concerns about Sikh separatism in Canada.

On Wednesday, he was asked about the public display of “martyr” posters honouring Talwinder Parmar, the leader of the 1985 Air India bomb plot, which took 331 lives. “I do not think we should ever be glorifying mass murderers, and I am happy to condemn that,” he said.