Trudeau: Invitation should not have gone to Sikh extremist
NEW DELHI — Canadian and Indian authorities were both scrambling Thursday to explain how a man convicted three decades ago of trying to kill an Indian politician in Canada slipped through security screenings to snag an invitation to an exclusive reception with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in New Delhi.
Trudeau’s week-long trip to India went off the rails after CBC news reported Jaspal Atwal — a Canadian Sikh convicted of attempting to kill Indian cabinet minister Malkiat Singh Sidhu on Vancouver Island in 1986 — had been invited to receptions with Trudeau in both Mumbai and New Delhi.
Trudeau’s office withdrew the invitation to the New Delhi event after photos surfaced of Atwal posing with Trudeau’s wife, Sophie Gregoire Trudeau, and Infrastructure Minister Amarjeet Sohi at the event in Mumbai two days earlier.
“The individual in question never should have received an invitation and as soon as we found out we rescinded the invitation immediately,” said Trudeau in a brief statement Thursday. “Obviously we take this situation extremely seriously.”