New Delhi: During the G20 summit earlier this month, senior officials belonging to the Five Eyes intelligence-sharing alliance had privately attempted to raise the issue of the 18 June killing of Sikh extremist Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Surrey, Canada, according to a report in The Washington Post Wednesday.
These clandestine conversations apparently took place days before Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau publicly alleged India’s involvement in Nijjar’s killing, leading to tit-for-tat expulsion of diplomats by the two countries.
Citing an anonymous official, the article said that weeks before Trudeau’s claims, Canada had requested its allies to take “joint action” over the issue and was met with refusals, although Emily Williams, a spokesperson for Canada’s foreign ministry, denied claims that requests for “public condemnation” were sent.
State broadcaster Radio Canada also reported late Tuesday that Canada’s partners in the Five Eyes alliance — the UK, the US, Australia and New Zealand — refrained from openly taking sides in the India-Canada diplomatic tussle.
While Australian PM Anthony Albanese refused to comment on any matters related to Five Eyes intelligence, UK Foreign Secretary James Cleverly simply stressed the importance of Canada’s investigation running its course, while US national security spokesperson John Kirby “urged” India to “cooperate”.
The developments come three months after Canada’s national security adviser Jody Thomas reportedly referred to India as being among the “top actors” for foreign interference in Canada, alongside Russia, Iran and China.
In an interview with state media CBC Radio that same month, Thomas had also expressed dissatisfaction with the state of intelligence sharing and stressed on the importance of greater transparency towards Canadian people on national security as opposed to secrecy.
“These were all signs that Trudeau’s government was starting to see hyper-security around intelligence as a political liability. For the first six months of this year, Trudeau and his team erred on the side of secrecy. For the last few months of this year, it appears they have decided to risk erring on the side of transparency,” columnist Susan Delacourt wrote for the Toronto Star this Tuesday, following Trudeau’s public allegations.
While India vs Canada may be front and centre, the role of the Five Eyes appears to remain in the background with Canada’s allies seemingly waiting for the probe to progress further.
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‘Five Eyes’ pact
The alliance’s history dates back to covert meetings between the UK and the US intelligence services during the Second World War before signing the Atlantic Charter in 1941, and eventually the UKUSA Agreement in 1946.
It grew during the Cold War, inducting Canada in 1948 and Australia and New Zealand in 1956, bringing the number to five — hence the name ‘Five Eyes’.
Since the 1960s-70s, the Five Eye’s functioning has been more formalised under the ECHELON surveillance system, which gathers intelligence on the activities of the five nations’ adversaries by electronically intercepting signals. The Five Eyes share this intelligence with each other in a sophisticated multilateral arrangement.
(Edited by Smriti Sinha)
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