New Delhi: Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Thursday reiterated that his country’s security agencies had “credible” reasons to believe that agents of the Government of India were involved in the killing of a Canadian citizen.

He was referring to the June 2023 murder of a pro-Khalistan leader in British Columbia, Hardeep Singh Nijjar.

“As I said on Monday, there are credible reasons to believe that agents of the government of India were involved in the killing of a Canadian on Canadian soil. That is something of utmost foundational importance in a country of rule of law, in a world where  international rules-based orders matter,” said Trudeau.

He was speaking during a news conference in New York on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly.

He called on the Indian government to cooperate with an official probe into the murder of Nijjar.

“We have independent justice system and robust processes that will follow their course and we call upon the Government of India to engage with us to move forward on getting to the truth of this matter,” he said.

“We are a country of the rule of law. We are going to continue to do the work necessary to keep Canadians safe and to uphold our values and the international rules-based order. That’s our focus right now,” the Canadian prime minister added.

The Canadian prime minister made these remarks after India blamed the Canadian government of providing a safe haven to terrorists, a term it has only used for Pakistan so far.

“If you’re talking about reputational issues and reputational damage, if there’s any country that needs to look at this, I think it is Canada and its growing reputation as a place, as a safe haven for terrorists, for extremists, and for organised crime. And I think that’s a country that needs to worry about its international reputation,” MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said on Thursday.

Canada had earlier said that it was sending back people due to social media threats. India had, however, said that it had asked Canada to have “parity in rank and strength of diplomatic equivalence in our mutual diplomatic presence”.

On Monday, Trudeau told the House of Commons: “Over the past number of weeks, Canadian security agencies have been actively pursuing credible allegations of a potential link between agents of the Government of India and the killing of a Canadian citizen, Hardeep Singh Nijjar.” ,

He added that he raised the issue with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in “no uncertain terms”.

After the Canadian prime minister’s allegations, which India denied, both countries expelled their diplomats.

So far, the Canadian government has not made public any of the evidence it has for its claim of an Indian government hand in Nijjar’s killing.

On Thursday morning, India temporarily suspended visa operations with Canada for an indefinite period, citing alleged ‘security threats’ against diplomatic staff.