New Delhi: “Shared intelligence among Five Eyes partners” informed Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s accusation of a possible link between India and the killing of Sikh extremist Hardeep Singh Nijjar in June, David Cohen, the US ambassador to Canada, said Saturday.
“There was shared intelligence among Five Eyes partners that helped lead Canada to making the statements that the Prime Minister made,” Cohen said to CTV News.
The Five Eyes is an intelligence alliance consisting of the US, UK, Australia, Canada and New Zealand.
Cohen’s assertion follows reports that Canada obtained both “human” and “signals” intelligence from an unnamed Five Eyes partner that allegedly showed Indian diplomats’ involvement in Nijjar’s killing. According to a CBC report, unnamed Canadian government sources confirmed that this consisted of communications between Indian officials and diplomats in the country.
A 20 September report in The Washington Post claimed that during the G20 Summit in New Delhi, Canada had asked its allies to take “joint action” over the issue but the request was denied.
However, Cohen denied these claims Saturday while revealing that Ottawa and Washington DC had “a lot of communication”. “I will say this was a matter of shared intelligence information. There was a lot of communication between Canada and the United States about this,” he said.
Over the past week, Canada’s Five Eye partners have not taken sides in the diplomatic row with India.
The US, through, Adrienne Watson, the White House National Security Council spokesperson, expressed its concern over the issue, observing that the “targeting of dissidents” in other countries is “unacceptable” and urged India to cooperate.
Cohen also noted that Washington takes these allegations “very seriously”. “If they prove to be true, it is a potentially very serious breach of the rules-based international order in which we like to function,” the envoy said. “We think it’s very important to get to the bottom of it.”
While Australian PM Anthony Albanese declined to comment on matters of sharing intelligence within the alliance, UK Foreign Secretary James Cleverly stressed on the importance of Canada’s investigation running its course.
Meanwhile, local reports quoted New Zealand Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta as saying that it would be a “serious concern” if the Indian government was found responsible for Nijjar’s killing.
While India has rejected Trudeau’s allegations, MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi stated Thursday that Ottawa has not shared “any specific information” about the case with New Delhi, but it was willing to examine any information if shared, and this has been communicated to Canada.
(Edited by Smriti Sinha)
Also Read: Canadian politicians condemn online video clip threatening Hindus to ‘go back to India’