New Delhi: External Affairs Minister (EAM) S. Jaishankar Monday hit out at Canadian “double standards”, highlighting that Ottawa’s diplomats have the licence to collect information on India’s military and police and profile Indians but have a problem if New Delhi diplomats collect information related to securing their safety in Canada.
“Look at what happens in India; Canadian diplomats have no problem going around, collecting information on our military, on our police, profiling people, (and) targeting people to be stopped in Canada….the licence they give themselves is totally different from the kind of restrictions they impose on diplomats in Canada,” said Jaishankar at the NDTV World Summit on Monday.
The Indian external affairs minister added: “They seem to have a problem if Indian diplomats are even trying to make efforts to find out what is happening in Canada on matters which directly pertain to their welfare and security.”
Jaishankar’s comments came after the India-Canada diplomatic standoff escalated last week, with India withdrawing its high commissioner to Canada, Sanjay Kumar Verma, and five other diplomats. The move was taken after Ottawa requested New Delhi to waive their diplomatic immunity and allow their interrogation in the Hardeep Singh Nijjar murder case.
Nijjar, an India-designated terrorist, was gunned down outside a gurdwara in Surrey, British Columbia, in June 2023. Ottawa has arrested four Indians and charged them with the killing. It has also alleged links between Indian officials and the killing of Nijjar.
When Ottawa first made the allegations in September 2023, India rejected those as “absurd and motivated”.
‘Not a shred of evidence’
New Delhi has maintained that not a “shred of evidence” has been shared by Ottawa of the links between its officials and the killing of Nijjar. However, the Canadian government has doubled down on its allegations in recent weeks.
Mélanie Joly, the Canadian foreign minister has even publicly stated that all options, including diplomatic sanctions, are on the table over the alleged activities of Indian diplomats in Canada.
“Double standards” are a “very mild” description of Canada’s different rules for its diplomats abroad and foreign diplomats in the country, according to Jaishankar.
The EAM also took potshots at Ottawa’s standard defence for any activities by Sikh separatists — highlighted by India — as the exercise of their freedom of speech.
“We tell them you have people openly threatening leaders of India, diplomats of India — sometimes, the threat is not just verbal, it is physical — and their answer is freedom of speech….If you threaten the Indian high commissioner, he is supposed to accept it as freedom of speech,” Jaishankar commented.
He pointed out how when an Indian journalist sometimes comments on Canada on social media, Ottawa is quick to label it as “foreign interference.”
“If an Indian journalist says the Canadian high commissioner walked out of South Block looking very grumpy, it is apparently foreign interference. ‘Double standards’ is (a) very mild (term) for it,” said Jaishankar.
A sample of social media posts by Indian journalists has been labelled as “potential sources of foreign interference” in a report by the Rapid Response Mechanism (RRM) Canada. The report by RRM Canada was submitted to the Foreign Interference Commission — a panel to look into foreign meddling in the 2019 and 2021 Canadian federal elections.
Appearing before the commission on 16 October 2024, Canadian PM Trudeau accused Indian media of attacking the country to undermine the “integrity” of its “democracy” — allegations he first made in a 18 September 2023 speech on the floor of the House of Commons. During the 2023 speech, Trudeau, for the first time, publicly stated that Canadian authorities were investigating “credible allegations” of links between Indian government officials and the killing of Nijjar.
(Edited by Madhurita Goswami)
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