Amid the diplomatic stand-off between India and Canada, Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Wednesday lambasted the Western media over their coverage and accused Israel and the United States of being the “foremost practitioners of extra-territorial assassinations in the last 25 years”.
The Thiruvananthapuram MP made the remarks following an article by BBC titled, “Hardeep Singh Nijjar: Why Western nations fear India-Canada row”.
“I never cease to be amazed by the blinkers regularly put on by Western media. They are so quick to judge other countries, so blind to their own,” Tharoor said.
Quoting a line from the article, Tharoor wrote, “This BBC analysis says “Western nations have condemned alleged extraterritorial assassinations carried out by countries such as Russia or Iran or Saudi Arabia. They will not want India to join that list”.
The Congress leader went on, “Hello? The two foremost practitioners of extra-territorial assassinations in the last 25 years have been Israel and the US! Any mirrors available in the West?”
India and Canada’s diplomatic relations have hit a low following Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s allegations that there was an Indian government “link” in the killing of Khalistan separatist leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar.
Nijjar, head of the Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara Sahib in Surrey, Canada, was killed on June 18 after being shot by unidentified assailants on the premises of the gurdwara. He was also the chief of the separatist organisation Khalistan Tiger Force (KTF).
India has outrightly rejected the claims calling it “absurd” and “motivated”, and expelled a senior Canadian diplomat in a tit-for-tat move to Ottawa’s expulsion of an Indian official over the case.