NEW DELHI: India has taken up with Canada the issue of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau 's presence at a recent event in Toronto to felicitate two legislators who had authored a motion in the Ontario assembly terming the 1984 anti-Sikh riots "genocide". Khalistani flags were allegedly waved at the event. "We have taken up such issues in the past with the government of Canada through diplomatic channels. What I can mention without going into the details of this particular instance is that the practice has not been discontinued," foreign ministry spokesperson Gopal Baglay said.He was responding to a question on the presence of Trudeau at the aforementioned event, where photographs of Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, considered a terrorist by India, were also displayed. The Khalsa Day event was organised to mark the Sikh new year.Canada had earlier termed "disappointing and inaccurate" the comments by Punjab CM Amarinder Singh that five ministers in the Trudeau government, including defence minister Harjit Sajjan, were "Khalistani sympathisers".Last month, defence minister Arun Jaitley had strongly raised with his Canadian counterpart Sajjan India's "anguish" over the passage of the "genocide motion" in the Ontario assembly.

Source: Times of India May 11, 2017 21:34 UTC