In Canada, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and senior officials of the country’s national police, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), have been making statements in the past months about the involvement of Indian diplomats, intelligence agencies and the Indian Home Minister in illegal activities in Canada. However, recently, a section of the media in Canada, the Globe and Mail, had published reports of defamation against Narendra Modi, Jaishankar and Doval, citing Canadian intelligence information. It was claimed that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was aware of the alleged conspiracy to kill Nijjar. The report also said that Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar and National Security Advisor Ajit Doval were involved in this conspiracy, which was allegedly led by Union Home Minister Amit Shah. However, no evidence was presented in this report.
On the other hand, after the publication of this Canadian media report, India’s Ministry of External Affairs had termed the allegations as “absurd” and false. Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said that these allegations are completely “reprehensible” and should be ignored. India also said that Canada should understand its responsibility and reject such political allegations outright, so that overall India-Canada relations do not deteriorate further.
Following this reaction from India, the Canadian government’s statement said that those reports were not accurate and were based on hearsay. The above official statement from the Privy Council did not clarify the allegations made by the Canadian government about the involvement of Indian Home Minister Amit Shah in collecting information from Canada. However, in the past, a statement was issued by the Privy Council Office, the joint government office of the Prime Minister and Cabinet Ministers in Canada, quoting senior spokesperson Nathalie Doreen, saying that on October 14, based on the threat to public safety, RCMP officers took special steps and publicly accused agents of involvement in serious criminal activities in Canada by Indian government agents. The statement clarified that the Canadian government is not aware of any evidence of involvement of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar or National Security Advisor Ajit Doval in criminal activities in Canada, nor has the Canadian government made such allegations. Nathalie Doreen is the National Security Advisor to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
Prime Minister Trudeau had said during a press conference in Brampton recently that we have seen that criminals who leak confidential facts to the media have consistently provided false information. He added that this is why we launched a national investigation into foreign interference, which shows that the perpetrators of leaking information to the media are not only unreliable, but also criminals. In the press conference, Trudeau was asked about the Globe and Mail report and the Canadian Security Agency whether the government would investigate this. Trudeau said that how can an agency make such a claim and how can any mainstream media make such a claim without credible evidence? Do you print it?
It should be remembered that Justin Trudeau has also made allegations against India in the country’s Parliament in the case of the murder of Khalistani activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar since September last year. There have also been allegations of Indian diplomats collecting information about Sikhs in Canada and passing that information to gangsters to carry out incidents against Sikhs. It was also said that the gangster Lawrence Bishnoi gang is a government gang of India, which has been nurtured by Indian diplomatic officers in Canada. Through this, incidents are being carried out against Khalistanis in Canada.
It is worth mentioning that in June 2023, Khalistan supporter Hardeep Singh Nijjar was shot dead outside a gurdwara. However, till now the mystery of who committed this murder has not been revealed. The Canadian government is still investigating.
