India is the second major external threat to Canada after China, a critical new report completed 9 months after Justin Trudeau suspected Delhi of involvement in the assassination of a Canadian Sikh citizen. The statement was given by the National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians (NSICOP), an assembly of MPs and officials in Canada, and listed in parliament with alterations this week. The statement said India has “appeared as the second-most substantial foreign interfering threat to Canada’s democratic institutes and processes”, displacing Russia.
It noted that “foreign interference exertions have gradually increased” and its efforts stretched beyond contradicting what is apparent as pro-Khalistani efforts in Canada. It said that India was interfering in Canadian democratic procedures and establishments, including through the aiming of Canadian politicians, ethnic media, and Indo-Canadian ethnocultural societies.
Political ties between India and Canada have plunged to their lowest in years after Mr. Trudeau expressed to the House of Commons last fall that safety agencies have reliable claims of a potential connection between agents of the government of India and the assassination of a Canadian citizen. He suspected the Indian government’s hand in the murder of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, 45, a Sikh separatist spearhead wanted in India. He was gunned down outside a gurdwara in Surrey, BC, in June of last year.
India has denied the claims as “ridiculous” and demanded evidence for its claims. So far 4 men have now been charged in that killing by the Canadian courts. A Sikh secessionist movement – identified as the Khalistan movement – is at the heart of longstanding stiffnesses between the two countries as Ottawa had one of the largest diasporas of Sikh settlers from India’s Punjab. The movement calls for a separate land for Sikhs within India, demanding years of persecution in the country.
India has blamed Canada for harboring individuals carrying out what it called anti-India actions as the Sikh movement group frequently holds referendums and gatherings in the country. The high-level Canadian governmental panel statement said some of the Canadian MPs proactively provided private information to Indian officials.
Some nominated officials, however, started knowingly assisting foreign state actors soon after their election, it added, redacting the names and identities. The statement, which called China the chief threat, said while India’s foreign intrusion efforts are not as extensive as Beijing’s, Delhi’s actions are also of substantial concern.
India pursues to promote relationships with a diversity of witting and unwitting personalities across Canadian society with the intent of improperly exercising India’s influence across all guidelines of government, mainly to stifle or disgrace criticism of the Government of India, it said. The statement clarified how China used WeChat, a Chinese social media platform comparable to WhatsApp, to spread “deceptive narratives” about an MP.
India also established the intent and ability to be involved in this type of foreign intrusion through media manipulation, the statement said. Responding to the report, Mr. Trudeau said this his government is taking this very seriously. On Thursday, Mr. Trudeau’s office commended Narendra Modi on his third successive term in office while the US and UK leaders held calls with the Indian leader.
