May 10 (Punjab Khabarnama) : Canada’s spy agency has accused India of engaging in “hostile foreign interference and espionage activities” in the country. This allegation was contained in the Public Report 2023 issued by the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) this week.
The report stated, “Major perpetrators of foreign interference and espionage in both Canada and the West include the People’s Republic of China, the Russian Federation, the Islamic Republic of Iran, and India. In 2023, these states and their intelligence services continued to engage in a variety of hostile foreign interference and espionage activities to advance their objectives and interests.”
The introduction from CSIS’ Director David Vigneault delved into the killing of pro-Khalistan figure Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Surrey, British Columbia, on June 18 last year. He referred to the statement by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in the House of Commons on September 18 that there were “credible allegations” of a potential link between Indian agents and the murder. “The Prime Minister stated that the protection of Canadian citizens and the defence of Canadian sovereignty were fundamental. He stated that the government’s top priorities were for law enforcement and security agencies to ensure the continued safety of all Canadians, and for all steps to be taken to hold perpetrators of this murder to account,” Vigneault wrote.
The report stated that prior to Trudeau’s statement Vigneault and then National Security Intelligence Adviser, Jody Thomas travelled to India to discuss the matter with their counterparts.
“In response to the serious allegations, Director Vigneault stated that Canada and its allies require accountability from the Government of India concerning its potential involvement in the murder of a Canadian citizen on Canadian soil,” the report stated.
It also said after deterioration in the bilateral relations between Canada and India, “low-sophistication cyber activities against Canada by India-aligned non-state cyber actors were observed” but there was “no indication that the Government of India was responsible for these cyber incidents”.
Interestingly, in its 2018 public report, released in June 2019, it had warned that there “has been an increase in observed threat activity” in the country related to support for Khalistan including “attacks targeting India”.
The agency found that within Canada “threat-related activities primarily targeting India and committed by a small number of Canada-based extremists who support violent means to establish an independent state within India have continued.” This, it stated, had been “mostly at a low level” after its peak in the mid-1980s. However, it noted that recently “there has been an increase in observed threat activity, wherein Canada is being used as a base to support this view as well as attacks targeting India.”
These activities, it stated, constituted a threat not just to the target country, India, but also one to the security of Canada. “Today’s threat environment is global. We have an obligation to fully investigate threat activities in Canada directed outside our borders,” the report affirmed, adding that “Canada must contribute to the international community’s efforts to prevent violent attacks from happening in any country.”
However, those warnings were absent from later reports and the matter is not addressed in the latest version.