TORONTO: India has conveyed its displeasure to the Canadian government over recent allegations of interference in Canada’s internal affairs.
Canadian flag in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. (Reuters) {{^userSubscribed}} {{/userSubscribed}} {{^userSubscribed}} {{/userSubscribed}}
According to a person familiar with the action, this sentiment was conveyed by Indian diplomats in Canada to senior officials, including National Security and Intelligence Adviser (NSIA) Nathalie G. Drouin.
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Several agencies have accused India of foreign interference in their reports. In June, the National Security Intelligence Parliamentary Committee said India had “emerged after China and replaced Russia as the second most significant foreign interference threat to Canada’s democratic institutions and processes.”
In its 2023 public report issued in May, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) noted, “The report identifies the People’s Republic of China, the Russian Federation, the Islamic Republic of Iran and India as the primary perpetrators of foreign interference and espionage in Canada and the Western world. In 2023, these countries and their intelligence agencies continued to engage in a range of hostile foreign interference and espionage activities to advance their own national objectives and interests.”
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The day before, the first report of the public inquiry into foreign interference in federal electoral processes and democratic institutions, led by Justice Marie-Josee Hogue, said India was conducting foreign interference activities “aimed at aligning Canada’s position with India’s interests on important issues, particularly with regard to how the Indian government perceives Canada-based supporters of an independent Sikh homeland (Khalistan).”
In a statement last week, Sanjay Kumar Varma, India’s high commissioner in Ottawa, said the allegations were “politically motivated.”
“We categorically deny the politically motivated allegations of interference by India in the Canadian elections. No concrete evidence has been shared with us on which these allegations can be assessed. These allegations are likely based on hearsay and have been propagated by anti-India extremists and terrorists based in Canada, whose sole objective is to disrupt Canada-India relations and interfere in India’s internal affairs,” he said.
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“The Canadian agencies involved likely made these unsubstantiated allegations based on uncorroborated information and reached these conclusions through a non-transparent process,” he added.
These accusations have increasingly surfaced since Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said in the House of Commons on September 18 last year that there were “credible suspicions” about a potential link between Indian agents and the murder of pro-Khalistan figure Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Surrey, British Columbia, three months earlier. Investigators have arrested four Indian nationals in connection with the murder this year, but say the Indian angle has not been proven but the investigation is ongoing.
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