The flight carrying Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau encountered a technical snag on Sunday as it attempted to take off from Delhi. According to an airport official who spoke to the ANI news agency, the Canadian delegation, in town for the G20 Summit, will remain in India until the on-site engineering team resolves the problem.
"Upon our departure for the airport, we were made aware by the Canadian Armed Forces that CFC001 was experiencing technical issues. These issues are not fixable overnight, our delegation will be staying in India until alternate arrangements are made", Mohammad Hussain, Press Secretary, told news agency ANI.
This comes hours after the 'pull aside' meeting between the Canadian PM and Indian PM Narendra Modi.
After the meeting between two, the Ministry of External Affairs said that PM Modi conveyed India's strong concerns to PM Trudeau regarding continuing anti-India activities of extremist elements in Canada.
"He (PM Modi) conveyed our strong concerns about the continuing anti-India activities of extremist elements in Canada. They are promoting secessionism and inciting violence against Indian diplomats, damaging diplomtic premises, and threatening the Indian community in Canada and their places of worship," the MEA said in its statement.
"The nexus of such forces with organized crime, drug syndicates and human trafficking should be a concern for Canada as well. It is essential for the two countries to cooperate in dealing with such threats. PM also mentioned that a relationship based on mutual respect and trust is essential for the progress of India-Canada relationship," it added.
Meanwhile, PM Trudeau, when questioned on Khalistan extremism and "foreign interference" after meeting with PM Modi, said his country "will always defend freedom of expression".
"Both the issues came up. Over the years, with PM Modi, we have had many conversations on both of those issues... Canada will always defend freedom of expression, freedom of conscience, and freedom of peaceful protest and it is extremely important to us.. at the same time we are always there to prevent violence and to push back against hatred. I think on the issue of the community, it is important to remember that the actions of the few do not represent the entire community or Canada. The flip side of it, we also highlighted the importance of respecting the rule of law and we did talk about foreign interference," Trudeau said.
On relations between India and Canada, the Canadian PM said, "We recognise that India is an extraordinarily important economy in the world and an important partner to Canada on everything from fighting climate change to creating growth and prosperity for the citizens. There is always a lot of work to do and we will continue to do it."
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