PM Trudeau has made a huge mistake: Former Pentagon official Michael Rubin on India-Canada row

Former Pentagon official and a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute Michael Rubin has said that Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has "made a huge mistake" by alleging that India had links with the killing of Khalistan terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar."Canadian PM Justin Trudeau has made a huge mistake. He has made allegations in a manner which he has not been able to back. There are two possibilities here, either he was shooting from the hip and he does not have the evidence to support the accusations he made against the Indian govt or there is something there, in which case he needs to explain why his govt was sheltering a terrorist with blood on his hands," Rubin said.Slamming the Canadian prime minister for not backing up his claims, Rubin said, "He hasn't been able to release any definitive intelligence...when Justin Trudeau says trust me, no one trusts him in the best of times. All the more so against the backdrop of an election campaign, he's presently losing."Relations between India and Canada have hit rock bottom after Trudeau alleged that Indian agents were involved in the killing of Khalistan terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar.He added, "Well, frankly, there's a much greater danger for Canada than India. If Canada wants to pick a fight, frankly, at this point, it's like an ant picking a fight against an elephant. And the fact of the matter is India is the world's largest democracy."It's far more important strategically than Canada is, especially as concern grows with regard to China and other matters in the Indian Ocean basin and the Pacific," the former Pentagon official continued.Earlier this week, India issued an advisory for Indian nationals and students residing in Canada as well as those contemplating traveling to the country, asking them “to exercise utmost caution”.The advisory by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), Government of India, has been issued in view of growing anti-India activities and politically condoned hate crimes and criminal violence in Canada.