CANADIAN immigration minister Marc Miller has brushed aside Indian external affairs minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar's recent remarks on the arrest of three Indian men in connection with the murder of Sikh separatist leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar in British Columbia in June last year.
While he acknowledged that the Indian diplomat had the right to express his own thoughts, he dismissed the former's remarks as inaccurate, Canada's Cable Public Affairs Channel reported.
"We are not lax. And the Indian foreign minister is entitled to his opinion. I'm going to let him speak his mind. It's just not accurate," Miller was quoted as saying.
Leaders from both sides have been speaking to the media ever since the three men, all in their 20s, were arrested by the Canadian police last week.
Read: Nijjar murder accused Brar has no criminal past in India
Jaishankar had earlier accused Ottawa of granting visas to individuals with links to organised crime, overlooking warnings from New Delhi.
He also said that Canada was granting legitimacy to "extremism, separatism, and advocates of violence" in the name of free speech. He even alleged that Canada was harbouring people with leanings towards Pakistan and had organised themselves into political lobbies.
Read: Canada has 'political compulsion' to blame India: Jaishankar
Answering these charges, Miller said Canada's policies are not lax. While refusing to give specific details about the visa status of the arrested individuals, the Canadian minister directed inquiries to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), suggesting that police were probing the incident.
On Saturday (4), the RCMP released photographs of the three arrested men and they were identified as Karan Brar, 22; Karanpreet Singh, 28; and Kamalpreet Singh, 22.
Nijjar was shot dead outside a gurdwara in Surrey in British Columbia on June 18 last year. A video clip surfaced showing his killing by some unidentified assailants. The murder of the Canadian citizen led to a serious diplomatic row between India and Canada with Canadian PM Justin Trudeau alleging that India was involved in the plot. New Delhi denied it saying the claim was absurd and motivated.
A 1996 photo of rapper Tupac Shakur (L) and Marion "Suge" Knight is shown on screens during closing arguments in the Duane Davis murder trial, related to the 1996 killing of rapper Tupac Shakur, at Clark County District Court at the Regional Justice Center in Las Vegas, Nevada, on August 31, 2026. Getty Images
A rescuer assists a resident through heavy mud following flash floods on August 27, 2026 in Trishuli, Nepal. A sudden flood swept through the Bhote Koshi River basin in northern Rasuwa on August 26, damaging settlements, roads and energy infrastructure as rescue teams searched for residents and foreign travellers reported out of contact. Hundreds were reported missing, as the death toll started to climb.Getty Images
Rescue personnel provide medical treatment to a child at an army rescue camp in Trishuli Batar, Nepal, on August 27, 2026. A sudden flood swept through the Bhote Koshi River basin in northern Rasuwa on August 26, damaging settlements, roads and energy infrastructure, as rescue teams searched for residents and foreign travellers reported out of contact. Hundreds were reported missing as the death toll began to climb. Getty Ima
Family members of missing flood victims react at the emergency ward of the Maharajgunj Medical Campus, part of the Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital, on August 28, 2026 in Kathmandu, Nepal. Authorities said the flash floods were triggered after a mass of ice, mud and rock collapsed into a Himalayan river near the Nepal-China border, leaving hundreds dead or missing and causing widespread damage in affected districts. Authorities continued the gruelling search for victims, many buried under metres of mud, as both China and Nepal issued fresh flooding alerts.Getty Images