‘Inaccurate’: Trudeau government on ‘linking’ Modi, Jaishankar to Canada violence

The Canadian Government has dismissed a media report linking Prime Minister Narendra Modi, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and National Security Adviser Ajit Doval to criminal activities in Canada, including the alleged plot to kill Sikh separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar, terming it as “speculative and inaccurate”.

The denial by Nathalie G Drouin, National Security and Intelligence Adviser to the Canadian Prime Minister, on Thursday came a day after India strongly trashed the report as “smear campaign”.

Quoting an unnamed senior national security official, The Globe and Mail newspaper on Tuesday reported that Canadian security agencies believed Prime Minister Modi knew about the killing of Nijjar and other violent plots. The official said the Canadian and American intelligence tied the assassination operations to Home Affairs Minister Amit Shah. Also in the loop, the official said, were Doval and Jaishankar.

In a statement issued by the Privy Council Office on Thursday, Drouin said, “On October 14, because of a significant and ongoing threat to public safety, the RCMP (Royal Canadian Mounted Police) and officials took the extraordinary step of making public accusations of serious criminal activity in Canada perpetrated by agents of the Government of India.”

However, he said, “The Government of Canada has not stated nor is it aware of evidence linking Prime Minister Modi, Minister Jaishankar or NSA Doval to the serious criminal activity within Canada. Any suggestion to the contrary is both speculative and inaccurate.”

In a press meet on October 14, RCMP Commissioner Mike Duheme had warned of widespread violence, homicides and a public security threat linked to “agents” of the Government of India.

Hours after Duheme’s conference, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told reporters, “I believe that India has made a monumental mistake by choosing to use their diplomats and organised crime to attack Canadians.”

In New Delhi on Wednesday, referring to The Globe and Mail report, MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said such “ludicrous statements” should be dismissed with the contempt they deserve and “smear campaigns like this only further damage our already strained ties”.