India has strongly rejected as “baseless allegations” of its interference in the Canadian general elections and has hit back at Ottawa saying it was, instead meddling in New Delhi’s internal affairs.
India’s hard-hitting response came after a Canadian media report on April 5, 2024, claimed that India and Pakistan attempted to interfere in the 2019 and 2021 federal elections in Canada, the country’s spy agency, Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) alleged. It also came amid the ongoing diplomatic role between both countries over the killing of Khalistani terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar in 2023.
Canada’s Federal Commission of Inquiry into Foreign Interference is looking to examine claims of election interference by India in 2019 and 2021, according to country’s media reports.
Responding to the reports, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said, “We have seen media reports about the Canadian Commission inquiring into. We strongly reject all such baseless allegations of Indian interference in Canadian elections.”
“It is not the government of India’s policy to interfere in the democratic process of other countries. In fact, quite on the reverse, it is Canada which has been interfering in our internal affairs,” he said. Unclassified documents by the CSIS alleging election interference were tabled as part of the Federal Commission of Inquiry examining possible meddling by India, China and Russia and other countries in the 2019 and 2021 elections, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation reported.
The CSIS, in its documents alleged that the Indian government in 2021 had intended to interfere and likely conducted clandestine activities including using an Indian government proxy agent in Canada. Two years earlier, in 2019, the Government of Pakistani Officials in Canada attempted to clandestinely influence Canadian federal politics with the aim of furthering of Government of Pakistan’s interests in Canada, the CSIS claimed.
In 2021, the spy agency had alleged that the Indian government’s foreign interference activities were centred on small number of electoral districts. The CSIS claimed that the Indian government targeted those electoral districts and sue to New Delhi’s perception that a portion of the Indian Canadian voters were sympathetic to the Khalistani movements or pro-political stances.
The CSIS has amassed a body of intelligence that indicates a government of India “proxy agent may have attempted to interfere in democratic processes” by providing illegal financial support to pro-Indian candidates, the document said.
“Any such financial contribution could have remained unknown to the candidate,” CSIS said, without identifying the specific electoral districts or candidates that may have been subject to India’s alleged meddling in 2021.
However, CSIS Director David Vigneault told the public inquiry that intel documents may not necessarily be factual and require further investigation as these documents warn about the summaries being possibly uncorroborated, single-sourced or incomplete, Canadian media reported.
The development came against the backdrop of diplomatic tensions between India and Canada after Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau alleged a “potential” involvement of Indian government agents in the killing of Nijjar in Surrey, British Columbia, in June last year.
India hit back at Trudeau’s allegations and called them “absurd” and “motivated” and said Canada was giving space to Khalistani elements targeting New Delhi. Nijjar, the chief of the banned Khalistan Tiger Force, was designated as a terrorist by India in 2020.
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