Canada’s deputy foreign minister David Morrison on Tuesday confirmed that he had told The Washington Post that Union home minister Amit Shah had allegedly authorised a wave of violence against Sikh separatists on Canadian soil, Reuters reported.
The Indian government has dismissed Canada’s prior accusations as baseless, denying any involvement.
David Morrison joined other senior officials testifying before members of Parliament on the public safety and national security committee. MPs on the committee asked questions about the Royal Canadian Mounted Police’s allegation two weeks ago that agents of the Indian government were complicit in widespread crimes in Canada.
The Washington Post had earlier claimed that Canadian security agencies had collected evidence that “a senior official in India” had “authorized the intelligence-gathering missions and attacks on Sikh separatists” in Canada. The report went on to say that a Canadian source identified Amit Shah as being the Indian official in question.
“The journalist called me and asked me if it was that person. I confirmed it was that person,” David Morrison said, without providing further details or evidence.
The high commission of India in Ottawa and the external affairs ministry are yet to respond to David Morrison’s allegation.
David Morrison was appearing at the committee about a diplomatic eruption two weeks ago that saw India recall high commissioner Sanjay Verma and five other Indian diplomats after they were named “person of interest” in a Canadian investigation into the 2023 killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a Khalistani terrorist who was a Canadian citizen.
Relations between the two countries have plunged to their lowest level ever over the issue of Canada’s tacit support for Khalistani extremists among the large Sikh-Canadian population of about 8 lakh. New Delhi accuses Ottawa of doing next to nothing to stop the activities of Khalistani supporters who seek to undermine the sovereignty and territorial integrity of India.
A year earlier, India had expelled 41 Canadian diplomats after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said there were “credible” allegations Narendra Modi’s government helped orchestrate the killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar on Canadian soil.
India has rejected Canada’s allegations as “preposterous,” even as the US has charged an Indian national and an Indian government employee with attempting to kill pro-Khalistani figure Gurpatwant Singh Pannun on American soil.
The Indian government has launched an internal probe of the allegations.
The US has charged a former Indian intelligence officer, Vikash Yadav, for allegedly directing a foiled plot to murder Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, a dual US-Canadian citizen, in New York City. The FBI warned against such a retaliation aimed at a US resident.
Nathalie Drouin, Justin Trudeau’s national security adviser, told the parliamentary committee on Tuesday that she had personally attended a meeting where evidence was presented connecting Indian agents and diplomats to the crime wave in Canada, the Bloomberg report said.
Nathalie Drouin flew to Singapore for an October 12 meeting with her Indian counterpart, during which both sides agreed to keep the matter quiet while they worked on addressing it, she said.
“Instead, the government of India chose to not respect our agreement and go public the next day, Sunday, October 13, and use again their false narrative that Canada has not shown any evidence,” Blomberg quoted Drouin as saying during testimony to a Canadian parliamentary committee.
India completely rejects targeting of our high commissioner by Canada: Jaishankar
Last week, external affairs minister S Jaishankar said India first raised the presence of organised crime in Canada but the issue was ignored because of a permissive atmosphere for a long time, ,rejecting the targeting of its high commissioner and diplomats by the Trudeau government.
Speaking at an event in Pune on the subject ‘Emerging opportunities in the present global scenario’, the diplomat-turned-politician said India will obviously take a tough position, which has been taken when its national interest, integrity and sovereignty are concerned.
“We completely reject the manner in which the Canadian government targeted our High Commissioner and diplomats,” Jaishankar said in response to a question.