New Delhi [India], November 4 : Veena Sikri, former High Commissioner of India to Bangladesh, has strongly condemned Canada's alleged audio and video surveillance of Indian diplomats, calling it "completely unacceptable" and a clear case of Canada's escalating aggression against India without any evidence.
While speaking with ANI, Sikri said, "They are talking about maintaining audio and video surveillance on the few diplomats of the Indian High Commission that are left there. This audio and video surveillance is completely unacceptable. This is clearly a case of mounting aggressiveness by the Canadian government against India and based on no evidence."
She added, "In the early months on claims made against India on Nijjar (Khalistani terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar), the local authorities described it as a gang war... They never accused India, they never blamed India for the killing of Nijjar. But we saw that PM Justin Trudeau not only blamed India but has stepped up the belligerence and aggression against India."
The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) announced on Saturday that India has lodged a formal protest with the Canadian government after revelations that its consular officials in Canada were subjected to audio and video surveillance. The MEA condemned these actions as "flagrant violations" of diplomatic and consular conventions.
During a press briefing, MEA Spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal stated that some Indian consular officials were recently informed by the Canadian government about the ongoing surveillance. He criticised Canada for attempting to justify its actions by citing technicalities, arguing that such justifications cannot excuse what he described as harassment and intimidation of Indian diplomatic personnel.
Sikar also spoke on Canada's admission of leaking details about India's foreign interference to The Washington Post. She condemned the Canadian government's actions as "totally bizarre, totally out of context, and totally unacceptable."
On October 30, top Canadian officials reportedly admitted to leaking details about India's foreign interference to The Washington Post. According to the report, Prime Minister's national security and intelligence adviser Nathalie Drouin confirmed that she leaked sensitive information about the Indian government's alleged role in murder, extortion and coercion to The Washington Post that was not shared with the Canadian public.
Speaking with ANI, Sikri said, "The efforts of the Canadian government have been totally bizarre, totally out of context and totally unacceptable. The way they are trying to now manoeuvre global opinion against India and it all started more than a year ago when they made accusations in the killing of the Khalistani terrorist Nijjar."
She added, "At that time, PM Trudeau made an allegation in the Parliament that they have credible allegations... India said that show us the evidence but they have never shown any evidence. Because this is a political issue for PM Trudeau in Canada, he is becoming more and more belligerent about it and more and more aggressive against India and as his popularity is going down, he is becoming more and more anti-Indian.
She further said that Canada's allegations that India's Home Minister is involved in actions against Khalistani separatists are "completely unacceptable."
"Now they are trying to accuse India in more and more areas. They are including India as a cyber threat adversary. They have involved the honourable home minister of India, saying that he is involved in action against Khalistani. This is completely unacceptable... The Indian government will continue to take strong action. We will not allow the Canadian government to make these false, unacceptable allegations, allegations outside of the Vienna Convention responsibilities that are with the Canadian government to look after the Indian diplomats posted there."
Tensions between India and Canada escalated after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau alleged in Parliament last year that there were "credible allegations" of India's involvement in the killing of Nijjar.
India has firmly denied all such allegations, labelling them as "absurd" and "motivated," while accusing Canada of providing a haven for extremist and anti-India elements.