New Delhi: On Monday, those with Indian IP addresses found themselves unable to access the website of CTV News, the privately-owned Canadian broadcaster that has released an interview with former Indian High Commissioner to Canada Sanjay Kumar Verma.
Attempts to access the website resulted in an error which read: “Access Denied; you don’t have permission to access …. on this server.”
The development marked a rare instance of Indians being denied access to the website of a Western media house.
ThePrint reached CTV News by email for comment but had not received a response by the time of publication. This report will be updated if and when a response is received.
In this case, CTV News published an interview with Verma, who was withdrawn from Canada by the Indian government last week in light of the ongoing diplomatic standoff.
As a parting shot before leaving Canada, Verma alleged, during the interview with CTV News, that Sikh separatists in the country are “assets” of Canadian intelligence.
While those in India were unable to access the website, Verma’s full interview was accessible for Indians via CTV News’ YouTube channel. During the interview, Verma pointed out that till date no evidence has been shared by Canadian authorities to substantiate allegations of links between Indian government officials and the killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar–a designated terrorist in India who was shot in Surrey last June.
Last week Ottawa had sent a communication to India requesting the waiver of diplomatic immunity for Verma and five other diplomats as they are “persons of interest” in the investigation into Nijjar’s killing. India refused the request and withdrew the six diplomats. In retaliation New Delhi expelled six Canadian diplomats including acting high commissioner Stewart Wheeler and the deputy high commissioner Patrick Hebert.
The escalating row has seen ties between the two countries hit a new low.
There are around 15 diplomats left in the missions of either country. Canada had close to 60 diplomats in India before the current chill in diplomatic relations began in September 2023, after Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau first raised the allegations of links between Indian officials and the killing of Nijjar on the floor of Parliament.
Meanwhile, the foreign interference commission in Canada, which was established to investigate alleged interference in the 2019 and 2021 Canadian federal elections saw a report submitted by the Rapid Response Mechanism (RRM) flagging posts by Indian journalists and social media accounts as potential foreign interference.
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I am able to access it.
How is that a news get a better connection and private DNS.
That’s nonsense, the site is available to browse!