OTTAWA, Ontario (AP) – Canadian officials alleged Tuesday that India’s Interior Minister Amit Shah directed violence, intimidation and intelligence gathering targeting Sikh separatists in Canada.
Deputy Foreign Minister David Morrison told MPs on the National Security Committee that he had confirmed Mr Shah’s name to the Washington Post, which first reported the allegations.
“A journalist called me and asked if it was that person. I confirmed that it was that person,” Prime Minister Scott Morrison told the committee.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison did not say how Canada knew about Shah’s alleged involvement.
A year ago, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced that Canada had credible evidence that Indian government officials were involved in the June 2023 murder of Canadian Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar in British Columbia. He said that
A diplomatic spat that has strained bilateral relations between India and Canada for more than a year has ended with both countries expelling each other’s top diplomats over the killing of a Sikh activist in Canada and other alleged crimes in Canada. It boiled down.
Canadian authorities have repeatedly said they have shared that evidence with Indian authorities.
Indian government officials have repeatedly denied that Canada has provided any evidence, calling the allegations absurd. The Indian embassy in Ottawa did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment on the allegations against Shah.
On October 14, Canada arrested the Indian High Commissioner and five other diplomats as key figures in multiple incidents of coercion, intimidation and violence aimed at quelling the movement for an independent Sikh state known as Khalistan. He was expelled for being.
Canada is not the only country to accuse Indian officials of plotting assassinations abroad. In mid-October, the U.S. Department of Justice announced criminal charges against Indian government officials in connection with a failed plot to kill a Sikh separatist leader in New York City.
In a case released by the Department of Justice, Vikash Yadav, who authorities say directed the New York plot from India, was arrested in a murder that prosecutors previously said was planned ahead of a series of other politically motivated killings. He is charged with commission of murder for the premeditated murder he announced. In the US and Canada.
Nathalie Drouin, Prime Minister Trudeau’s national security adviser, told the committee on Tuesday that Canada has evidence that the Indian government first collected information about Indian and Canadian nationals in Canada through diplomatic channels or agents. He said that
The information was then passed on to the New Delhi government, which is said to be working with a criminal network affiliated with Lawrence Bishnoi, she said.
Bishnoi is currently in prison in India, but Drouin said his vast criminal network is linked to murders, assassination plots, coercion and other violent crimes in Canada.
Before the Royal Canadian Mounted Police went public with its suspicions that an Indian diplomat was a person of interest in a criminal investigation, Drouin said there were efforts to work with the Indian government to ensure accountability.
Drouin said he had held talks with Prime Minister Modi’s National Security Adviser Ajit Doval in Singapore two days ago.
He said the decision to go public was made when it became clear that the Indian government would not cooperate with Canada on the proposed accountability measures.
This included asking India to waive diplomatic immunity for senior officials, including the high commissioner in Ottawa. Drouin said he thinks that is unlikely.
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police said it has taken the unusual step of speaking publicly about an ongoing investigation due to the threat to public safety.
The Indian government denied the allegations and instead expelled six Canadian diplomats.
Nijjar, 45, was shot to death in his pickup truck after leaving the Sikh temple he led in Surrey, British Columbia. An Indian-born Canadian citizen, he owned a plumbing business and was a leader in a once-strong movement to create an independent Sikh homeland.
Four Indian nationals living in Canada have been charged with Nijjar’s murder and are awaiting trial.
Mr. Drouin and Mr. Morrison were called as witnesses before the committee, along with Royal Canadian Mounted Police Commissioner Mike Duhame and the Director of the Canadian Spy Bureau.
