News Mania Desk / Piyal Chatterjee / 3rd November 2024
India said on Saturday that it strongly protested Ottawa’s accusations against Union home minister Amit Shah and summoned the representative of the Canadian high commission. According to MEA spokeswoman Randhir Jaiswal, “a diplomatic note was handed over in reference to the proceedings of the Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security in Ottawa on October 29, 2024, and we had summoned the representative of the Canadian High Commission yesterday.”
“It was conveyed in the note that the government of India protests in the strongest terms to the absurd and baseless references made to the Union Home Minister of India before the committee by deputy minister David Morrison,” Jaiswal added.
“Such irresponsible actions will have serious consequences for bilateral ties,” the MEA spokesperson added.
According to a Reuters report, Canada had alleged that Union home minister Amit Shah was behind the “plots to target Sikh separatists on Canadian soil”. Canadian Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister David Morrison said to a parliamentary panel that he told the Washington Post that “Shah was behind the plots.”
On Wednesday, the US reacted to Canada’s allegations against Shah, terming them “concerning”. “The allegations made by the government of Canada are concerning, and we will continue to consult with the Canadian government about those allegations,” State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said.
After Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau accused Indian government agents of being involved in the June 2018 murder of Khalistani terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar, diplomatic ties between India and Canada have already soured. Following Canada’s designation of Sanjay Verma as a “person of interest” in its investigation into Nijjar’s murder, India recalled its high commissioner last month. Six Canadian diplomats were expelled from New Delhi, and the city withdrew its high commissioner.
