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India on Saturday denied home minister Amit Shah had plotted to target Sikh activists on Canadian soil and said it had officially rebuked Ottawa over the “absurd and baseless” allegation.
The comments by the spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) came after Canada’s Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister David Morrison alleged on Tuesday that Shah ordered a campaign of violence, intimidation and intelligence-gathering targeting Sikh separatists inside Canada.
Ottawa has previously accused India of orchestrating the 2023 killing in Vancouver of 45-year-old naturalised Canadian citizen Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a prominent Khalistan campaigner.
But this week, Canadian officials said Ottawa had traced a broader campaign targeting Canadian Sikh activists to the highest levels of India’s government, implicating Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s powerful right-hand man.
MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said this revelation that high Canadian government officials deliberately leaked unfounded insinuations to international media as part of a conscious strategy to discredit India and influence other nations only confirms the view that the Indian government has long held about the current Canadian government’s political agenda and behavioural pattern.
Replying to queries during a weekly press briefing here, Jaiswal said such irresponsible actions will have serious consequences for bilateral ties.
He said India summoned a Canadian High Commission representative on Friday and the official was served a diplomatic note to lodge the protest in strongest terms on the ”absurd and baseless” references made by the Canadian deputy minister about India’s Union Home Minister.
Impact Shorts
More ShortsWhile addressing the Parliament members, Morrison did not say how Canada knew of Shah’s alleged involvement.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had said a year ago that Canada had credible evidence agents of the Indian government were involved in the murder of Canadian Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar in British Columbia in June 2023.
Dismissing the allegations as absurd, Indian government officials have consistently denied that Canada provided evidence.
With inputs from agencies.