Canada minister claims Amit Shah authorised attacks on Sikh separatists

Union Home Affairs Minister Amit Shah authorised a wave of violence across Canada that included extortion and homicides, as reported by the news agency Bloomberg News.

David Morrison, Canada’s deputy foreign minister, told a parliamentary committee on Tuesday that he had confirmed the identity of Amit Shah in a newspaper report earlier this month.

The  Washington Post reported that Canadian security agencies had collected evidence that “a senior official in India” had “authorised the intelligence-gathering missions and attacks on Sikh separatists” in Canada. The story went on to say that a Canadian source identified Mr Shah as being the Indian official in question.

Washington Post report

“The journalist called me and asked me if it was that person,” Morrison said. “I confirmed it was that person.”

Mr Morrison was appearing at the committee alongside other top Canadian police and government officials about a diplomatic eruption two weeks ago that saw Canada eject India’s high commissioner and five other diplomats from the country, with India then responding in kind.

A year earlier, India had expelled 41 Canadian diplomats after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said there were “credible” allegations that tNarendra Modi’s government helped orchestrate the killing of Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar on Canadian soil. But instead of the matter ending there, Canadian officials allege India continued a violent campaign against activists in Canada.

India has rejected Canada’s allegations as “preposterous,” even as the US has charged an Indian national and an Indian government employee with attempting to kill a Sikh activist on American soil. Mr Modi’s government launched an internal probe of the allegations that concluded rogue agents were behind the plot, Bloomberg News has reported.

Crime wave in Canada

Nathalie Drouin, Mr Trudeau’s national security adviser, told the parliamentary committee on Tuesday that she had personally attended a meeting where evidence was presented connecting Indian agents and diplomats to the crime wave in Canada.

Ms Drouin flew to Singapore for an October 12 meeting with her Indian counterpart, during which both sides agreed to keep the matter quiet while they worked on addressing it, she said.

“Instead, the Government of India chose to not respect our agreement and go public the next day, Sunday, Oct. 13, and use again their false narrative that Canada has not shown any evidence,” Ms Drouin said during testimony to a Canadian parliamentary committee.

In response, Canadian police held an extraordinary news conference the following day to outline their evidence, and the government announced it was ejecting six Indian diplomats — including High Commissioner Sanjay Kumar Verma.

Ms Drouin said Canadian officials also decided at that point to brief international media on the evidence Canada held, selecting the Washington Post.

In Singapore, Canadian officials provided evidence that Indian government agents in Canada had been collecting information on certain Canadians, primarily Sikh activists, and then passing that information to an organised crime outfit to carry out extortion, assassination plots and killings, she said.

“Given how alarming the evidence was, we knew we had to act and act quickly,” Ms Drouin testified. “We needed the agents of the Government of India to stop their illegal activities in Canada, and sought a collaborative approach with Indian officials.”

India not interested in probe

Ms Drouin said Canadian officials gave multiple options to India on how to proceed, including Canada’s preferred option of India publicly opening an investigation into the matter, similar to the approach India has taken with the US assassination case.

But she said India quickly made it clear they weren’t interested in that course of action.

“By going public, the Government of India clearly signaled that they were not going to be accountable or take the necessary actions we needed to ensure public safety.” Ms Drouin ended her testimony by stressing that Canada did not act lightly, and does not want to ruin its relationship with India, especially in the broader context of having to counteract China’s influence in the Indo-Pacific region.

“Canada remains open to cooperation with India, but we need to have a meaningful engagement from India on our grounded and serious concerns,” she said.

(By arrangement with livemint.com)