New Delhi: Amid diplomatic tensions spiraling between India and Canada over Khalistani separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar’s killing, Canada Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s national security adviser Nathalie Drouin and David Morrison, the deputy minister of foreign affairs, are learnt to have shared some sensitive information regarding India with The US-based Washington Post newspaper, a leading Canadian daily has reported.
This alleged incident is said to have to taken place just days before the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) alleged connections between Indian government agents and criminal activities in Canada.
The Canadian daily, citing two sources, alleged that Nathalie Drouin and David Morrison gave a briefing on India’s interference operations in Canada to The Washington Post in the week before Thanksgiving. The media outlet further claimed that the intelligence was not to be reported until RCMP Commissioner Mike Duheme held a news conference on Thanksgiving Day.
However, a spokesperson for Drouin and Morris has dismissed any classified information was shared, according to the English daily.
“None of the information in the public domain that has been reported on is the result of classified intelligence,” Privy Council media official Daniel Savoie said in a statement. “In regard to questions about additional serious violence, we would refer you to the unsealed U.S. indictment from November 2023 which identified plans to carry out three killings within Canada.”
On the same day as the briefing, The Post had reported, based on information from Canadian officials, that Ottawa had linked India with the murder of Sukhdool Singh Gill alias Sukha Duneke, an alleged ally of the Bambiha gang, who was shot dead in Winnipeg on September 20, 2023. This murder occurred just two days after publicly accused India of killing Nijjar in Surrey in British Columbia. As per media reports, Sukhdool’s killing came less than a day after he was featured in a wanted list of gangsters posted on X by the NIA.
Notably, RCMP Commissioner Duheme did not confirm any links between Gill’s murder and India, nor did the RCMP provide additional sensitive information referenced in The Post’s report.
Why India, Canada Ties Severed?
Relations between India and Canada hit rock bottom after Canada associated High Commissioner Sanjay Kumar Verma and several other Indian diplomats with Nijjar case. Consequently, India has recalled its six diplomats while also expelling six Canadian diplomats from India. Meanwhile, Canada also expelled the Indian envoy and five additional diplomats.
Trudeau-led Canadian authorities have alleged involvement of Indian agents in homicides, extortion, and violent acts against pro-Khalistan supporters, a claim that India has strongly denied.
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