ISLAMABAD Sep 12 (Online): Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau belatedly left India on Tuesday after an aircraft breakdown forced a two-day extension of his rocky visit to New Delhi for the G20 summit.<\/p>\n
Trudeau arrived in India for the meeting of the leaders of 20 leading economies on Friday and was due to return home on Sunday after laying a wreath at a memorial to Indian independence leader Mahatma Gandhi.<\/p>\n
However, a mechanical fault detected during pre-flight checks resulted in the grounding of his plane by the Canadian Armed Forces and he was stranded along with his entire delegation.<\/p>\n
Air traffic tracker Flightradar24 showed Royal Canada Air Force plane CFC01 taking off from Delhi airport shortly after 1pm local time (0730 GMT).<\/p>\n
Trudeau\u2019s press secretary Mohammad Hussain confirmed to AFP that the Canadian G20 delegation was aboard the flight.<\/p>\n
Canadian broadcaster CTV said the Airbus CC-150 had a history of operational issues.<\/p>\n
Since Trudeau did not have any further diplomatic engagements with the Indian government, he stayed at his hotel along with his 16-year-old son Xavier, media reports said.<\/p>\n
Trudeau\u2019s presence at the G20 summit was more muted than some of his G7 counterparts and came against a backdrop of tensions between his government and host India over Ottawa\u2019s handling of right-wing Sikh separatists.<\/p>\n
New Delhi accuses Ottawa of turning a blind eye to the activities of Sikh nationalists who seek a separate Sikh homeland in northern India.<\/p>\n
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed \u201cstrong concerns about continuing anti-India activities of extremist elements in Canada\u201d during a meeting with Trudeau, according to an Indian government statement.<\/p>\n
Canada also recently suspended negotiations for a free trade agreement with India.<\/p>\n
Trudeau later told media that Canada would always defend \u201cfreedom of expression, freedom of conscience and freedom of peaceful protest\u201d while acting against hatred.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
ISLAMABAD Sep 12 (Online): Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau belatedly left India on Tuesday after an aircraft breakdown forced a two-day extension of his rocky visit to New Delhi for the G20 summit. Trudeau arrived in India for the meeting of the leaders of 20 […]<\/p>\n
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