'No definitive link to foreign state could be proven': Canada panel report on Khalistani terrorist Hardeep Nijjar's murder

Nijjar, a Canadian citizen, was killed in Vancouver in June 2023, paving the way for a diplomatic row after outgoing Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau accused "agents" of India behind the murder.

Trudeau claimed that "credible information" had been shared with intelligence partners, including the US.

The standoff between New Delhi and Ottawa resulted in India expelling six Canadian diplomats and asking them to leave the country.

Canada too asked six Indian diplomats to leave the country alleging that its police reportedly got hold of evidence that they claimed to be a part of an Indian government "campaign of violence".

In the report titled 'Public Inquiry Into Foreign Interference in Federal Electoral Processes and Democratic Institutions', commissioner Marie-Josee Hogue said disinformation is used as a retaliatory tactic to punish decisions that run contrary to a state's interests.

While the report alleged India spread disinformation on the killing of Nijjar, it, however, claimed that Canada could not find a link to a foreign state on his killing.

"This may have been the case with a disinformation campaign that followed the Prime Minister's [Justin Trudeau's] announcement regarding suspected Indian involvement in the killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar (though again no definitive link to a foreign state could be proven)," the report said.

Nijjar was killed outside a gurdwara in Canada's Surrey on June 18, 2023.