India-Canada tension: Info I got on Nijjar killing available on internet, frustrating, claims Canada leader

Amid the escalating India-Canada diplomatic tensions over the killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar's killing, David Eby, the premier of British Colombia, said the information he got on Nijjar was available on the internet.

"The only briefings that I’ve been able to receive were open source briefings, which is information that’s available to the public doing an internet search. Which I find frustrating," Eby said. 

David Eby said that despite a briefing with the director of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS), he found the information provided to be frustratingly lacking in concrete details. He said that all the information he is aware of about Nijjar’s killing is already in the public domain.

"If that's what's required, let's make it happen because the only way that we are going to make traction on this is by the federal government trusting the provincial government with information, and being able to act on it in our local communities," he added.

Eby also said he "strongly" suspected the Justin Trudeau-led government is holding back information that could help the province protect crucial information about Khalistani Nijjar's killing, reported CBC News.

He added that Canada’s Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc had reached out, “but there has not been good information sharing.”

In response to the killing of Nijjar this June in Surrey, Eby said that “the priority should be protecting the criminal prosecution process so people can be held accountable, but on the broader issue of ensuring community safety, there’s a long way to go to share that information.”

Eby said he believes Ottawa has information through agencies including the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) and the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) that could help respond to ground the situation in provinces.

“There is a gap between the information that Ottawa has and the ability to communicate that information with provinces where we can actually make a difference from using it in terms of response to issues on the ground… it was frustrating…” the Premier of British Columbia said.

Meanwhile, while addressing a news conference in New York on Thursday, Trudeau failed to present any evidence to back his claims. Trudeau was repeatedly quizzed on the nature of the allegations but stuck to reiterating that there were “credible reasons” to believe that India was linked to the death of Nijjar.

He claimed that Canada had shared the “credible allegations” that India’s government may have been involved in the killing of a Khalistani terrorist “weeks ago”.

Addressing a joint press conference with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Trudeau said: “Canada has shared the credible allegations — that I talked about on Monday — with India. We did that many weeks ago. We are there to work constructively with India and we hope that they engage with us so we can get to the bottom of this very serious manner,” said Trudeau.

Earlier this week, Trudeau had first linked Nijjar's killing to India. India on Tuesday rejected such allegations calling them 'absurd' and 'motivated'.

Nijjar, who was a resident of Canada, was one of India's most-wanted terrorists, and carried a reward of Rs 10 lakh on his head. He was shot by two unidentified assailants outside a gurdwara in Surrey in British Columbia in Canada on June 18 this year.

Also read: Amid India-Canada row, property confiscation notice pasted outside Nijjar’s house near Jalandhar

Also read: Nijjar killing: 'Shared credible allegations with India weeks ago," says Canada PM Trudeau