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OTTAWA — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is not refuting a theory that factions within the Indian government set him up for embarrassment by allowing a convicted attempted murderer into the country.

The theory appears to stem from the Indian government’s recent approval of a travel visa for Jaspal Atwal, a British Columbia man with ties to a Sikh separatist group that is banned in Canada and India as a terrorist organization. Atwal served jail time for the attempted murder of Indian cabinet minister Malkiat Singh Sidhu on Vancouver Island in 1986.

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During question period Tuesday, Conservative leader Andrew Scheer asked whether Trudeau agrees with or disavows the “allegations” made by a senior government security source to the National Post and other media outlets.

“When one of our top diplomats and security officials says something to Canadians it’s because they know it to be true,” Trudeau said, adding that it was the previous Conservative government that “torqued the public service every possible way they could.”