Amid the ongoing India-Canada row, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar highlighted the “organised crime, related to secessionist forces, violence and extremism” in Canada, raising concerns over them being “very permissive” due to political reasons.
Speaking at the ‘Discussion at Council on Foreign Relations’ in New York, Jaishankar said, “In the last few years, Canada actually has seen a lot of organized crime, relating to the secessionist forces, organized crime, violence and extremism. They’re all very, very deeply mixed up. So in fact, we have been talking about specifics and information.”
He further stressed that the Indian government has provided the Canadian side with a lot of information about the crime, and there has been a large number of extradition requests.
“We have given them a lot of information about organized crime and leadership, which operates out of Canada. There are a large number of extradition requests. There are terrorist leaders, who have been identified,” he added.
The EAM raised concern over these incidents of threats to Indian diplomats and attacks on Indian consulates, stating that these are “very permissive” because of political reasons.
“Our concern is that it’s really been very permissive, because of political reasons. So we have a situation where our diplomats are threatened, our consulates have been attacked…A lot of this is often justified, as saying that’s how democracies work. If somebody gives me something specific, it doesn’t have to be restricted to Canada. But if there’s any incident which is an issue and somebody gives me something specific, as a government, I would look at it,” Jaishankar further said.
Regarding PM Trudeau’s allegations, Jaishankar assured that the Indian side will take action if the Canadian side provides specific information in connection with Khalistani leader Hardeep Nijjar’s killing.
“We told the Canadians that this is not the government of India’s policy. Secondly, we said if you have something specific and if you have something relevant, let us know. We are open to looking at it…The picture is not complete without the context in a way,” he said.
Notably, Canada has yet to provide any public evidence to support the claim about the slaying of Hardeep Singh Nijjar.
Early last week, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made an explosive statement accusing the Indian government of being involved in the killing of Khalistani terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar – a claim that India has outrightly rejected, calling it ‘absurd’ and ‘motivated’.
India has suspended its visa services in Canada, following Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau’s allegations of Indian involvement in the killing.
Amid strained ties, India issued an advisory for its citizens and those who are travelling to Canada to exercise “utmost caution in view of growing anti-India activities and politically-condoned hate crimes and criminal violence” in the country.
Jaishankar takes a dig at Five Eyes alliance over Nijjar’s killing
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Tuesday (local time) said that he is not a part of the intelligence group when asked for comment on the reported sharing of intelligence between Five Eyes countries on Hardeep Singh Nijjar’s killing.
He was asked about the reports citing the role of the Five Eyes group regarding the intelligence behind the killing of Khalistani separatist leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar, and reports of the FBI warning US Sikh leaders about “credible threats” to them.
Responding to the question during the ‘Discussion at Council on Foreign Relations’ in New York, Jaishankar said, “I am not part of The Five Eyes, I am certainly not part of the FBI. So I think you are asking the wrong person”.
The Five Eyes is an intelligence alliance comprising Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the US and the UK.
Earlier, David Cohen, the US Ambassador to Canada, said that it was “shared intelligence among Five Eyes partners” that led the Trudeau administration to make the claim of a potential link between “agents” of the Indian government and the killing of separatist Sikh leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar.
(This news report is published from a syndicated feed. Except for the headline, the content has not been written or edited by OpIndia staff)
