Members of a parliamentary committee have called an emergency meeting on new allegations of Indian foreign interference in Canada as diplomatic tensions between the two countries escalate this week.
The Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security is scheduled to meet on Friday morning to discuss recent developments that saw Canada expel six Indian diplomats and consular officials “in connection with a targeted campaign against Canadian citizens by agents associated with the Indian government.”
The House of Commons is in recess this week, but MPs on that committee will meet on Friday to consider a request for a study into the RCMP allegations and their consequences.
The political dispute has unnerved members of the Indian diaspora in Canada, with many families and students expressing concern about their ability to travel if the conflict escalates into a suspension of visas.
Relations between India and Canada have been strained since 2023 when Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Canadian intelligence agencies had credible evidence linking Indian government agents to the assassination of Sikh separatist leader Hardeep Singh Nigar in Surrey, British Columbia.
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Royal Canadian Mounted Police, investigating Najjar’s killing, said Monday they have a significant amount of information about criminal activity allegedly organized by Indian government agents.
Evidence points to “violent extremism” in both countries, linking Indian government agents to murders and acts of violence, the use of organized crime targeting Canada’s South Asian community, and interference in democratic processes. According to the RCMP.
India has long denied any involvement in Najjar’s killing and on Monday accused Trudeau of pursuing a “political agenda.”
Trudeau told the Foreign Interference Inquiry on Wednesday that instead of cooperating with Canadian investigations into its intelligence services’ role in Najjar’s assassination, India instead responded.
In response to Trudeau’s testimony. The Indian government said Canada has provided us with “no evidence whatsoever to support the serious allegations it has chosen to make against India and Indian diplomats.”
Agents working at the Indian High Commission in Ottawa and consulates in Vancouver and Toronto were behind dozens of violent crimes across Canada targeting opponents of the Narendra Modi government, Global News has learned.
According to high-level sources familiar with the matter, supporters of the Khalistan movement, which seeks independence for India’s Sikh-majority Punjab region, were targeted, as well as rivals to Modi’s government.
– With files from Global News, The Canadian Press and Reuters
&Copy 2024 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
