"Absurd & baseless": India lodges protest with Canada on allegations against Amit Shah

New Delhi: India on Saturday rubbished a Canadian minister’s claims that Home Minister Amit Shah had ordered the targeting of Khalistani extremists in the country and termed them “absurd and baseless.” Canada’s Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister David Morrison had made the allegations while addressing members of the country’s Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security on Tuesday. Replying to a question on Saturday, Ministry of External Affairs Spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said a representative of the Canadian High Commission had been summoned on Friday and a diplomatic note was handed over. “It was conveyed in the note that the Government of India protests in the strongest terms to the absurd and baseless references made to the Union Home Minister of India before the committee by Deputy Minister David Morrison,” Jaiswal said.

Canada has admitted that its officials leaked sensitive information to the Washington Post and the Ministry of External Affairs warned that such actions will have “serious consequences” for ties between India and Canada. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had said a year ago that Canada had credible evidence agents of the Indian government were involved in the murder of Canadian Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar in British Columbia in June 2023. Dismissing the allegations as absurd, Indian government officials have consistently denied that Canada provided evidence.