Canada: Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s national security adviser admitted on Tuesday to leaking ‘intelligence’ to The Washington Post regarding baseless allegations of India’s involvement in murder, extortion, and coercion within Canada, much before officially disclosing it before both the Indian government and the Canadian public.
A massive diplomatic row erupted recently between India and Canada over the latter’s allegations of Khalistani terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar’s killing, leading to both countries expelling each other’s envoys. India, on multiple occasions, has rejected Canada’s allegations, calling them ‘baseless,’ and asked Trudeau to submit any credible information to back his claims.
Nathalie Drouin confirmed to the Commons Public Safety Committee that she was not supposed to require Trudeau’s permission to leak the ‘classified intelligence’ alleging India’s foreign intervention.
Drouin was joined by David Morrison, Canada’s deputy foreign minister, in accusing India of directing the ‘violent operations’, a charge termed as ‘politically motivated’ by New Delhi.
Drouin said the leak to The Washington Post was part of a communications strategy she and Morrison devised to ensure a major US publication got Canada’s side of its continuing foreign-interference dispute with India.
It came after the MPs on the committee asked questions about the Royal Canadian Mounted Police’s (RCMP) allegation two weeks ago that agents of the Indian government were complicit in widespread crimes in Canada.
Canada Charges India With ‘No Hard Proof’
Earlier, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau acknowledged that he had only intelligence and no “hard evidentiary proof” when he alleged the involvement of Indian government agents in the killing of Khalistani separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar last year.
Trudeau’s admission came after the RCMP said it had evidence that six Indian diplomats were involved in the alleged plot to murder Nijjar in June 2023.
Notably, based on the intelligence, Canada expelled six Indian diplomats including the high commissioner on Monday, linking them to the murder of a Sikh separatist leader, Nijjar. In response, India expelled six Canadian diplomats, too.
India’s Strong Response To Trudeau’s ‘Political Agenda’
The Ministry of External Affairs strongly rejected the Trudeau government’s claims about the involvement of senior Indian diplomats in a probe related to a case in Canada, saying that these activities “serve the political agenda of the current regime.”
“The Government of India strongly rejects these preposterous imputations and ascribes them to the political agenda of the Trudeau Government that is centered around vote bank politics,” the MEA said in a strongly-worded statement. Since Trudeau made allegations in September 2023, the MEA said that the “Canadian Government has not shared a shred of evidence with the Government of India, despite many requests from our side,” the MEA said.
India-Canada ties soured after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau last September said that Ottawa was “actively pursuing credible allegations” that Indian agents were potentially linked to the June killing of Canadian citizen Hardeep Singh Nijjar. New Delhi has rejected the allegations and asked Ottawa to furnish proof.
