Canada at it again
FOUR months after Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau alleged that there was ‘credible intelligence’ linking Indian government agents to the June 2023 murder of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, who was designated a terrorist by India, a commission set up by the Trudeau government has declared its intention to probe alleged Indian interference in Canadian federal elections in 2019 and 2021. Notably, the Foreign Interference Commission was formed in September, the month in which the Canadian PM visited India for the G20 summit and later made the startling allegation in the Nijjar case. Initially, the commission was investigating alleged interference by China and Russia, but now India has been dragged into the row.
The development is set to worsen the India-Canada relations, which have come under strain in recent months over Ottawa’s unsubstantiated accusations about New Delhi’s role in Nijjar’s killing. India has repeatedly sought ‘specific and relevant information’ and offered to cooperate with the investigators, but Canada has remained evasive. The probe continues to be shrouded in secrecy and opacity. Last month, Canada’s leading daily The Globe and Mail reported that two men who had allegedly committed the murder were likely to be arrested soon. The report also claimed that the duo had not left Canada after the killing and had been under police surveillance for months. However, the follow-up action, if any, has not been made public so far.
Canadian Immigration Minister Marc Miller recently admitted that diplomatic tensions had led to a sharp drop in the number of study permits issued by Canada to Indian students. The onus is on Ottawa to resolve the standoff, failing which bilateral trade may also be adversely impacted. Canada, which has been treating religious secessionists and terrorists with kid gloves for long, should refrain from pointing a finger at India unless it has credible and verifiable evidence to support its allegations. Lack of transparency will only aggravate mistrust between two vibrant democracies.
