Thursday, 21 November 2024
Thursday, 21 November 2024
The Indian government has denounced a Canadian report alleging that Prime Minister Narendra Modi knew about a plot to assassinate Sikh separatist leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar and eliminate other prominent activists, calling it part of a “smear campaign.”
The government statement followed a report in the leading Canadian daily The Globe and Mail claiming that Modi was in the loop about the killing of Nijjar and plans to eliminate other prominent separatists.
“We do not normally comment on media reports,” said Randhir Jaiswal, the ministry of external affairs spokesperson.
“However, such ludicrous statements made to a newspaper purportedly by a Canadian government source should be dismissed with the contempt they deserve,” Jaiswal said.
“Smear campaigns like this only further damage our already strained ties,” he added.
Indian officials have consistently and strenuously denied any involvement in the murder of Nijjar, calling them “preposterous accusations.”
Nijjar was gunned down in June 2023 in a gangland-style killing as he was leaving a gurdwara in Surrey, British Columbia.
Furthermore, Indian experts point out that knowledge about intelligence operations is usually shared only on what is called “a need-to-know basis.”
The Globe and Mail, quoting an unnamed Canadian national security official, said the Canadian administration believes the scheme to kill Nijjar was led by Union home minister Amit Shah. It added that Modi, external affairs minister S. Jaishankar and national security advisor Ajit Doval were all allegedly informed about the plan.
This is the first time that the Canadians have claimed that Modi, Jaishankar and Doval knew about the plot to kill Nijjar.
Canada’s security agencies claim that discussions must have taken place about it at the very topmost levels of government.
“The official said the [Canadian] assessment is that it would be unthinkable that three senior political figures in India would not have discussed the targeted killings with Mr. Modi before proceeding,” the newspaper alleged.
The Indian government has accused Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of playing "vote-bank politics" with a national election due next year.
Canada is home to the largest Sikh population in the world outside India. There are nearly 800,000 Sikhs living in Canada. The Indian government has long charged that Canada allows pro-Khalistan "terrorists" free rein in Canada.
Before leaving Canada, the outgoing Indian high commissioner Sanjay Kumar Verma said, "Canada didn't follow the practice which should have been there. Evidence should have been shared first, but someone [Trudeau] decided to stand in Parliament and talk about a thing for which he himself has said there was no hard evidence.
“And the day on which he did that, since then, he has made sure that the bilateral relations with India only go downwards, spiralling down," Verma told the private Canadian network CTV.
"I know, for sure, that they go from one person to the other, asking them about the hearsay. Most of them are those who are pro-Khalistan elements, anti-India elements," Verma said.
Trudeau has said the alleged activities by India in Canada are a “violation” of the country’s sovereignty.
The official quoted in the Canadian newspaper report claimed that both US and Canadian intelligence agencies were convinced the killing plots were masterminded and led by Shah.
The Canadian report quoting the national security official came even as Modi was photographed at the G20 Summit in Rio de Janeiro along with Trudeau and US President Joe Biden.
The Globe and Mail said Wednesday that, “Biden pulled Mr. Trudeau and Mr. Modi together Tuesday for a discussion during the Summit.”
Diplomatic tensions escalated further last month after Canada accused Indian diplomats and consular officials of engaging in clandestine activities involving homicides and extortions.
The Canadians called the Indian high commissioner and other diplomats “persons of interest” in the investigation into Nijjar’s death. The stunning accusation resulted in India expelling six Canadian diplomats and withdrawing its high commissioner and five other envoys from Ottawa.
Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) commissioner Mike Duheme alleged in October that there was evidence to suggest that India was involved in the killing of three people and not just Nijjar.
The RCMP has, so far, charged eight people with murder and another 22 with extortion. The RCMP also said it was convinced that 13 other individuals were in “imminent danger” and that “the scale of India’s activities could not be stopped solely by law enforcement.”
As a result, the RCMP said, officers had travelled to New Delhi on October 8 but that “India used an administrative technicality to block the meeting.” The RCMP says it also travelled to Washington on October 10, but “while an Indian officer confirmed the meeting, they never showed up.”
The meeting is eventually said to have taken place on October 12 in Singapore, where David Morrison, Canada’s deputy minister of foreign affairs, and an RCMP official, Mark Flynn, presented evidence to Doval, who is said to have rejected everything shown to him.
In late 2023, US federal prosecutors charged a man they identified as a member of the Research & Analysis Wing (R&AW) with trying to orchestrate from abroad an assassination on US soil.
The indictment unsealed in a Manhattan court said the man, Vikash Yadav, “directed the assassination plot from India” that targeted a New York-based Khalistan activist, Gurpatwant Singh Pannun.
The US has pooled intelligence with Canada as the countries have investigated what they allege is illegal conduct by a longtime friendly partner.
