Jennifer Huynh - PMO disputes that Trudeau and Atwal were friends

Summary: A man convicted of attempted murder who was invited to a dinner reception with Justin Trudeau in India says he had a friendly relationship with the prime minister, and stayed away to save him from further embarrassment. But the Prime Minister's Office says there is no merit to the assertions by Jaspal Atwal, who was convicted of attempted murder in the 1980s. It says he and Trudeau are not friends. Atwal was interviewed on Saturday by the The Canadian Press at his home in Surrey, B.C., following Trudeau's, at times, turbulent trip to India. Late on Sunday night, Atwal said he is not suggesting he and the prime minister are friends, but he has known Trudeau for years. Atwal says he received an invitation directly from the Canadian high commissioner's office for the event in New Delhi last week. British Columbia Liberal MP Randeep Sarai has said in a statement it was his choice alone to include Atwal on the guest list and he realized afterwards that he exercised poor judgement in doing so. On Sunday, a senior government official said, on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation, that the high commission invited some guests after receiving recommendations from others, including MPs such as Sarai. 

Synthesis: In explaining his relationship with the prime minister, Atwal said the pair sat together in his Hummer and chatted during one of Trudeau's visits to B.C. in 2008 or 2009. Trudeau's spokesman, Cameron Ahmad, said the prime minister and Atwal are not friends. Atwal said he is not a member of the Liberal party and has helped politicians from different parties both federally and provincially. He said he was travelling in India last week on a personal trip and questioned why Sarai is taking the blame alone for his invitation to the reception. But Ahmad disputed Atwal's version of events, reiterating the statement that Sarai released last week. Atwal was convicted of attempting to kill Indian cabinet minister Malkiat Singh Sidhu during a visit to Vancouver Island in 1986. In spite of media reports, he said he was not a member of the International Sikh Youth Federation, a banned terrorist group in Canada and India, at the time. He was also charged, but not convicted, in connection with a 1985 attack on Ujjal Dosanjh, a staunch opponent of the Sikh separatist movement, who later became B.C. premier and a federal Liberal cabinet minister. Atwal said he does not support Khalistani organizations and warns Sikh youth in B.C. against believing propaganda from separatists, many of whom he believes have a financial interest in the cause. He confirmed he was blacklisted from visiting India because of his crime. But he said any suggestion the government of India intervened - either by getting him an invitation or removing him from the blacklist so that he could attend - is a "total lie."

Source: https://www.ctvnews.ca/mobile/politics/pmo-disputes-that-trudeau-and-atwal-were-friends-1.3818447