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New Delhi:
Two senior aides of Canada Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, one of whom is his national security advisor, Nathalie Drouin, shared confidential information about India – and claimed Delhi ‘interference’ in Ottawa’s affairs – to a United States newspaper, a Canadian publication reported Tuesday.
The information was provided days before Canadian federal police alleged – as Mr Trudeau has in the past, but without concrete evidence – that “agents” of the Indian government work with criminal gangs to “target South Asians… specifically pro-Khalistani elements” in that country.
Royal Canadian Mounted Police Commissioner Mike Duhene and his deputy, Brigitte Gauvin, told reporters they believed Indian government “agents” had ties with the Lawrence Bishnoi gang, and were involved in the killing of Khalistani terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a Canadian citizen, in June last year, as well as case of “extortion, intimidation, and coercion”.
India had strongly rejected what it called “preposterous imputations” and underlined that since allegations were first made – by Mr Trudeau in September last year – the Canadian government “has not shared a shred of evidence with the Government of India, despite many requests…”
READ | “As We Said, No Evidence…”: India On Justin Trudeau’s Deposition
That sentiment was underlined last week after Mr Trudeau told a Commission of Inquiry he had only intel-based speculation and no “proof” when he linked “agents” of Delhi to Nijjar’s killing.
Canada Officials, US Paper Met?
Canada newspaper The Globe and Mail said its sources had spoken of Ms Drouin and David Morrison, the Deputy Minister of Global Affairs, briefing the Washington Post on various aspects of India’s ‘interference’, including involvement in the September 2023 killing of another Sikh leader, Sukhdool Gill, a gangster from Punjab’s Moga linked to the Khalistani terror movement.
Gill was killed two days after Mr Trudeau first accused India in the Nijjar killing.
Spokespersons for Ms Drouin and Mr Morrison have claimed no information was shared, but spoke of an unsealed United States indictment from November 2023. According to The Globe and Mail, this, however, did not name Gill or the other Canadian targeted for assassination.
The Post, sources told the Canadian publication, was instructed not to report anything till Mr Duheme and Ms Gauvin held that press conference. The Post eventually did so citing ‘Canadian officials’ who claimed to have linked Gill’s murder to India, although the federal police did not.
In their presser Mr Duheme and Ms Gauvin claimed to have evidence – none was presented citing ongoing investigation – that some Indian diplomatic staff work with organised crime elements to “collect – through questionable and illegal means – information on Canadian citizens… (that is fed to criminal organisations) that would then take violent actions…”
#WATCH | Ottawa, Ontario (Canada): “It (India) is targeting South Asian community but they are specifically targeting pro-Khalistani elements in Canada…What we have seen is, from an RCMP perspective, they use organised crime elements. It has been publically attributed and… pic.twitter.com/KYKQVSx7Ju
— ANI (@ANI) October 14, 2024
Hours after the police officers’ press conference Mr Trudeau spoke to reporters and doubled down on charges against the Indian government.
READ | Trudeau Doubles Down On Charges Amid India-Canada Diplomatic Row
“I think it is obvious the Government of India made a fundamental error in thinking they could engage in supporting criminal activity against Canadians, here on Canadian soil…” he declared.
India, Canada Expel Diplomats
His government also named High Commissioner Sanjay Verma as one of the six ‘persons of interest’ in this affair, triggering further fury from Delhi, which retaliated by ejecting Canada’s High Commissioner and five of his staff. On the expulsions (the second tit-for-tat round), Delhi said, “Sanjay Verma is India’s senior-most serving diplomat”, and slammed a “strategy of smearing India for political gains”.
Canadian authorities investigating Nijjar’s killing have arrested four people so far, and Mr Duheme said last week that 30 others, including those with alleged links to the Indian government. were charged.
Trudeau’s Political Future
Mr Trudeau’s allegations coincide with sliding support and tanking popularity; this month he survived a second parliamentary confidence vote in as many weeks before the 2025 election.
Ties between Ottawa and Delhi have plummeted since Mr Trudeau’s allegations broke, with his critics in India accusing him of pandering to Khalistani terrorist vote banks in that country.
In May, Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar said that Justin Trudeau, by allowing political space to Khalistani separatist elements, had indicated the terrorists’ votes were more important than the rule of law.
Mr Jaishankar underlined his assessment this week at the NDTV World Summit and criticised the Canadian government for “double standards“, referring to apparent differences between how Ottawa treats other nations’ diplomats on its soil and the “license’ it allows its representatives in India.
US’ Position
The US has been discreet since the row erupted in September last year and has only emphasised the need for cooperation between the two countries, an appeal it made again last week.
READ | NDTV Explains: US Charge Over Plot To Kill Terrorist, India’s Reaction
The United States – which is conducting an inquiry about an ex-Indian spy linked to a murder-for-hire attempt targeting Gurpatwant Pannun, whom India considers a Khalistani terrorist – called for Delhi and Ottawa to work together, and said that charges need to be viewed “very seriously”.
READ | On Nijjar Killing, US Says “Wanted To See India, Canada Cooperate But…”
Nijjar – the mastermind behind banned terror outfit Khalistan Tiger Force – was on Delhi’s list of ‘most wanted’ terrorists for multiple crimes, including the murder of Hindu priest in Punjab. Anti-terror agency NIA had offered a Rs 10 lakh reward for information leading to his capture.
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