New Delhi: India has dismissed a Canadian media report allegedly linking Prime Minister Narendra Modi to a conspiracy to kill a Sikh separatist in Canada as “ludicrous” and a “smear campaign”, warning that that such allegations would only deepen the tension in bilateral ties.
In a statement on Wednesday night (November 20), the Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said, “We do not normally comment on media reports. However, such ludicrous statements made to a newspaper purportedly by a Canadian government source should be dismissed with the contempt they deserve.” He added that “campaigns like this only further damage our already strained ties.”
The Canadian newspaper, The Globe and Mail, reported on Wednesday that “Canadian security agencies believe Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India knew about the killing of a Sikh separatist leader in British Columbia and other violent plots,” citing an unnamed “senior national-security official who worked on the intelligence assessment of New Delhi’s foreign-interference operations in Canada.”
The report also claimed that not only Indian home minister Amit Shah, but also national security adviser Ajit Doval and external affairs minister S Jaishankar were “in the loop.”
“While Canada does not have direct evidence that Mr. Modi knew, the official said the assessment is that it would be unthinkable that three senior political figures in India would not have discussed the targeted killings with Mr. Modi before proceeding,” said the report.
The newspaper also added a statement from the Privy Council Office that while the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) said Indian government agents have been involved in serious criminal activity in Canada, there “have been no allegations made by the Government of Canada against Prime Minister Modi, External Affairs Minister Jaishankar, or National Security Advisor Doval.”
The Privy Council Office’s statement did not mention Shah, although Canadian deputy foreign affairs minister David Morrison told a parliamentary panel last month that he had confirmed to a US newspaper that the home minister was “involved” in the plot to kill Canadian nationals.
On October 14, the Washington Post cited Canadian officials who claimed that they had informed the Indian government that “conversations and texts among Indian diplomats” expelled that day “include references” to Shah and a senior official in the research and analysis wing “who have authorised… intelligence-gathering missions and attacks on Sikh separatists” in Canada.
India subsequently summoned Canada’s acting deputy high commissioner Geoffrey Dean and handed him a diplomatic note protesting Morrison’s statements as “absurd” and “baseless”. “It was conveyed in the note that the government of India protests in the strongest terms to the absurd and baseless references made to the Union home minister of India before the committee by deputy minister David Morrison,” the external affairs ministry spokesperson said at a press briefing.
The diplomatic stand-off between India and Canada escalated in October as both nations expelled six diplomats each, including their respective top envoys.
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On October 14, India revealed that Canada had identified six Indian diplomats, including high commissioner Sanjay Kumar Verma, as “persons of interest” in a criminal investigation. In response, the external affairs ministry summoned Canada’s chargé d’affaires to announce the withdrawal of the diplomats and declared six Canadian diplomats as personae non gratae.
Simultaneously, Canada confirmed that it had issued expulsion notices to the six Indian diplomats stationed in Ottawa.
That same day, the RCMP held a press briefing, disclosing that their investigations extended beyond the Hardeep Singh Nijjar shooting and included evidence implicating Indian diplomats in allegedly using jailed gangster Lawrence Bishnoi’s gang to target Canadian nationals.
