New Delhi: The chief of the Australian domestic intelligence agency has said there’s “no reason to dispute” Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s claims of a possible link between Indian government agents and the June killing of Sikh separatist and Canadian citizen Hardeep Singh Nijjar.
The allegations have kicked up a major diplomatic row between Canada and India.
In an interview with Australian news channel ABC News, Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) director-general Mike Burgess stopped just short of endorsing the Canadian PM’s allegations.
“There’s no doubt any allegation of any country being accused of carrying out an execution of a citizen in that country, it’s a serious allegation, and something that we don’t do and something that nations should not do (sic),” Burgess said while speaking to the news channel on the sidelines of a public summit of the intelligence chiefs of the Five Eyes alliance in California.
Australia is a member of the Quad group of countries that includes India and is also part of the Five Eyes intelligence alliance with the US, Canada, the UK, and New Zealand.
The remarks come at a time when ties between India and Canada are at an all-time low over Trudeau’s allegations in September. While addressing the Canadian Parliament, Trudeau had said that government authorities were investigating “credible allegations of potential links” between Indian government agents and the killing of Nijjar, chief of the pro-Khalistan outfit Khalistan Tiger Force and a designated terrorist in India, in June.
Nijjar was shot dead by unidentified assailants outside a gurdwara in Canada’s British Columbia on 18 June, kicking up a row that involved the two countries expelling each other’s diplomats.
As the row escalated, US Ambassador to Canada David Cohen admitted there was “shared intelligence among Five Eyes partners”.
On its part, India has dismissed the allegations as “absurd and motivated”. It has also sought parity in diplomatic strength with Canada, asking Ottawa to reduce its diplomatic staff in India.
Significantly, Australia has a sizeable Sikh population — with 1.26 lakh Sikhs, according to the 2016 Census — and Sikhism is the fifth most-followed religion in Australia after Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, and Hinduism.
In his interview with ABC News, Burgess refused to provide details of the Australian government’s plan of action about the issue, saying only that it will “deal effectively” with any interference in Australian matters.
“Whether or not it will happen here, I wouldn’t publicly speculate, I don’t think that’s appropriate. I can assure you that when we find governments interfering in our country, or planning to interfere in our country, we will deal with them effectively,” Burgess said.
(Edited by Uttara Ramaswamy)
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