Canada charge against Amit Shah absurd, says foreign ministry

India on Saturday rejected allegations levelled against Union Home Minister Amit Shah by the Canadian minister as ‘absurd' and ‘baseless’ amid deteriorating bilateral ties between the two countries.

The spokesperson for the Ministry of External Affairs, Randhir Jaiswal, said that such irresponsible actions would have serious consequences for bilateral ties, and acknowledged that India summoned the representative of the Canadian High Commission on November 1.

David Morrison, the Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister of Canada, on Tuesday, alleged that Mr Shah ordered a campaign of violence, intimidation, and intelligence-gathering targetting Sikh separatists inside Canada.

The allegations were first reported by The Washington Post after Mr Morrison confirmed Mr Shah's name. He also told the Canadian parliament members of the National Security Committee about confirming Mr Shah's name.

“Regarding the latest Canadian target, we summoned the representative of the Canadian High Commission yesterday. 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,” said Mr Jaiswal.

The MEA spokesperson further stated that the revelation that high Canadian officials deliberately leaked unfounded insinuations to the international media as part of a conscious strategy to discredit India and influence other nations only confirms the view that the Government of India has long held about the current Canadian government's political agenda and behavioural pattern.

Monitoring Indians' well being

He said the government was monitoring the well-being of our students and professionals in Canada. "Our concern for their safety and security remains strong," he said.

A year ago, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said that Canada had credible evidence that agents of the Indian government were involved in the murder of Khalistani activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar. The allegations were dismissed by the Indian government.

However, recently, Justin Trudeau told the Canadian parliament that his government had no concrete evidence against India regarding the Nijjar killing. “And at that point, it was primarily intelligence, not hard evidentiary proof. So we said let's work together and look into the situation,” said Mr Trudeau.

(By arrangement with livemint.com)