Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made unwarranted claims last week accusing India of playing a role in the death of Khalistani separatist-terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar but the Liberal Party chief has been silent on Pakistan’s state-sponsored terror and repression of minorities.
Justin Trudeau has not only remained silent on terrorism emanating from Pakistan’s soil but has also remained quiet when Pakistan clamps down on the same liberties he claims to protect.
Aside from issuing travel advisories, the Canadian government under Trudeau’s leadership has not acted tough on Pakistan. A recent report by Foreign Policy also said that Trudeau failed to act on Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) reports which claimed that Communist Party of China (CPC) is responsible for espionage and counterespionage efforts in Canada.
This is in stark contrast to former US president Donald Trump – who Trudeau secretly despised because they did not adhere to the same belief system – who, within one year of taking office, accused Pakistan of deceiving the US and providing terrorists with safe havens with the funding it receives from the US to combat terror.
Despite Canadian journalists and observers pointing out that the Khalistani separatist movement is being fuelled by Pakistan, the Canadian Prime Minister, in the name of protecting freedom of speech and freedom of conscience remains a mute spectator, as law and order situation in Canada takes a hit and divisions appear within the diaspora communities.
Canada’s Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre (FINTRAC) in 2022 warned that instances of funding of terrorist activity from Canadian soil has grown between 2019 to 2022 but the Trudeau government has chosen to look the other way.
Funds were transferred by (so-called) Canadian citizens from Canada to shady entities in Iraq, Lebanon, Pakistan, Syria, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates and Yemen.
“A large portion of the funds suspected of supporting Daesh were sent to Turkey, often to regions or towns close to the Turkey-Syria border, a particular high-risk region for terrorist activity financing,” the alert from FINTRAC said, pointing out that substantial sums of money were also sent to the Islamic State group but Trudeau has failed to publicly condemn these acts.
In his almost decade-long tenure as Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau overlooked how tentacles of terrorism gripped Canada.
(So-Called) Protector of Liberties
The Canadian Prime Minister. who has been described as ‘the wokest of wokes’ won hearts of liberals when he facilitated the granting of refuge to Pakistan’s Asia Bibi – a woman who was on death row for alleged acts of blasphemy.
Trudeau, however, steered clear of condemning lynchings and state-sponsored repression of those accused of blasphemy in Pakistan. Trudeau won praise when he condemned growing incidents of Islamophobia across the world and promised to appoint an official to curb such sentiments but has steered clear of commenting on how Pakistan is on a mission to obliterate the rights of its minorities, including Sikhs.
Trudeau not condemning the death of Karima Baloch in Toronto at the hands of Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) also speaks volumes about the liberal leader’s attempts to keep his vote-bank intact.
Baloch was a voice of the oppressed people of Balochistan. She was the harshest critic of the Pakistan military and sought political asylum and was living there since 2015 until, according to Waheed Baloch, the former speaker of Balochistan provincial Assembly, she was assassinated in Toronto by Pakistani military and ISI operatives.
“The Pakistani Inter-Services Intelligence agency constantly intimidated her in Canada by sending threatening messages to harm her and the family. Her family was targeted in Pakistan and her uncle was arrested, tortured and executed extrajudicially while in custody,” Baloch activist Nabi Bakhsh Baloch said.
Even though the Baloch community highlighted that the ISI is active in Canada, the Trudeau government failed to take any action against Pakistan which was weeding out dissent on foreign soil.
(with inputs from Reuters, CBC and PTI)
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