India and Canada decide to enhance security cooperation

New Delhi: India and Canada have agreed to boost security cooperation including in combating terrorism and transnational crimes, the external affairs ministry said on Friday against the backdrop of Ottawa’s decision to list the Lawrence Bishnoi gang as a terrorist entity.

Canada on Monday designated the Bishnoi gang as a terrorist entity for “violently targeting” certain communities and creating a “climate of fear and intimidation”.

“Acts of violence and terror have no place in Canada, especially those that target specific communities to create a climate of fear and intimidation,” the Canadian government said in a statement. The listing of the Bishnoi gang came over a week after National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and his Canadian counterpart Nathalie Drouin held talks in New Delhi.

Asked about Canada’s listing of the gang, External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal at his weekly media briefing referred to the productive talks held between Doval and Drouin on September 18.

“Both sides had held productive discussions on advancing the bilateral relationship in areas such as counter terrorism, combating transnational organised crime and intelligence exchanges,” he said.

“They agreed to strengthen security cooperation and further reinforce existing mechanisms of engagement. The two sides remain in touch on all these issues,” he added.

The resolve by the two sides to boost security cooperation came over three-and-half months after Prime Minister Narendra Modi held talks with his Canadian counterpart Mark Carney on the margins of the G7 summit at Kananaskis in Canada.

India-Canada relations hit rock bottom following then Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s allegations in 2023 of a potential Indian link to the killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar.

India had dismissed Trudeau’s accusation as “absurd”.

In October last year, India recalled its high commissioner and five other diplomats after Ottawa attempted to link them to the Nijjar case. India also expelled an equal number of Canadian diplomats.

However, Liberal Party leader Carney’s victory in the parliamentary election in April helped in beginning the process to reset relations.

Both sides have already posted their high commissioners in each other’s capitals.

The two countries also agreed to revive several mechanisms to advance relations in a range of areas.