Trudeau promises to meet with MP responsible for inviting Jaspal Atwal to events in India - Action News
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Politics

Trudeau promises to meet with MP responsible for inviting Jaspal Atwal to events in India

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says he will sit down with Liberal MP Randeep Sarai sometime next week to discuss his invitation of a known would-be assassin to two receptions in India.

Prime minister was forced to defend himself multiple times on trouble-laden trip

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau holds a press conference in New Delhi, India on Friday, Feb. 23, 2018. (Sean Kilpatrick/Canadian Press)

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says he will sit down with Liberal MP Randeep Saraisometime next week to discuss his invitation of a known would-be assassin to two receptions in India.

The Conservative party is pushing for further action, calling for an emergency meeting of thepublic safety and national security committee to review the Privy Council Office's screening practices.

JaspalAtwal, a former member of an illegal Sikh separatist group who was convicted of attempted murder, attended at least one event tied to the Trudeau visit where he was pictured with Sophie Trudeau and Minister of Infrastructure and CommunitiesAmarjeetSohi.

He also was invited to dine with the prime ministerat a formal event hosted by the Canadian High Commissioner Thursday in Delhi, but that invitation was later rescinded.

"This is a situation that obviously is unacceptable and we will follow up on it ...This individual should never have been invited,"Trudeau told reporters Friday.

"I will be having a conversation with that MP in Canada next week."

Sarai, a Surrey Centre MP, sent out a statement earlier this week taking the blame.

"Let me be clear this person should never have been invited in the first place," the statement said.

"I alone facilitated his request to attend this important event. I should have exercised better judgment, and I take full responsibility for my actions."

Trudeau travelled with 14 MPs, butSaraihas drasticallylowered his profile since the news broke Wednesday.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, centre, stands beside Surrey Centre MP Randeep Sarai, top middle right, as they join fellow MPs for a group photo while visiting the Golden Temple in Amritsar, India, on Wednesday. (/Sean Kilpatrick/Canadian Press)

TheAtwalincident has dominated international headlines on Trudeau's trade trip.

The prime minister alsohas had to defend his decision to don traditional Indian clothing and has faced criticism for bringing his entire family on the trip.

Rogue political elements

Questions about how Atwal was able to travel to India continue to fester. He was not part of the official Canadian delegation.

A senior government official with knowledge of the prime minister's security protocols suggested to reporters thatrogue political elements in India may have orchestrated Atwal's embarrassing invitationin an attempt to make the Canadian government appear sympathetic to Sikh extremism.

Publicly, Trudeau spoke highly of the Indian government and highlighted his Friday meeting withIndian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

"The relationship between the Canadian governmentand the Indian government is very strong. We had an excellent meeting today," he said.

"Canada'sConservativeshave serious questions with respect to how Mr.Atwal, a member of a terrorist organization banned in Canada, was given clearance to attend an event with the prime minister," said public safety critic Pierre Paul-Hus.

"Canadians expect that when the prime minister meets with individuals, whether at home or abroad, there is a process to ensure the proper vetting of individuals to ensure that they do not pose a safety or security risk."

An official spokesperson for the Indian government had no explanation for how Atwalmanaged to get his name removed from the list of people banned from travelling to the country, or any information to offer on the documents he used to get into India.

Sophie Trudeau and Jaspal Atwal pictured in Mumbai on Feb. 20. The Trudeaus attended a business and cultural event in the city that evening celebrating Indian cinema. (Name withheld by request)

"It is something which I cannot say immediately how that happened," saidShri Raveesh Kumar."There are different ways of people coming into India."

A senior government official told CBC News that not all guests attending events with the prime minister are vetted for potential security risks because the large number of people attending such events, and the constantly changing list of attendees, make that task difficult.

Atwalwas a member of the International Sikh Youth Federation, which was banned as a terrorist group in Canada, the U.K., the U.S. and India. Hewas convicted of the attempted murder of an Indian cabinet minister, Malkiat Singh Sidhu, on Vancouver Island in 1986.

He's also been convicted in an automobile fraud case and was charged, but not convicted, in a 1985 near-fatal attack on Ujjal Dosanjh, an opponent of the Sikh separatist movement who later became premier of British Columbia.