Describing as "absurd and baseless" the accusations that a government led by the Prime Minister of Canada had brought against Union Home Minister Amit Shah, terming the latter the "latest Canadian target," India said the "unfounded insinuations" made on Saturday were part of the Ottawa's "conscious strategy" to discredit New Delhi.
"We had summoned the representative of the Canadian High Commission yesterday.". Reference the proceedings of the Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security in Ottawa on 29th October 2024.
"The Government of India protests the note to the absurd and baseless references made before the Committee to the Union Home Minister of India, by Deputy Minister David Morrison. It has been conveyed," said MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal, during a weekly media briefing.
"The fact that the high officials of Canada deliberately leak baseless allegations to the international media as part of a conscious policy to defame India and influence other nations only reinforces the view that the Government of India has long had about the current Canadian government's political agenda and pattern of behavior. Such irresponsible actions will have serious implications for bilateral relations," said Jaiswal.
Earlier this week, while appearing before the Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security (SECU), Trudeau's National Security and Intelligence Advisor Nathalie Drouin and Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs David Morrison admitted that they had leaked the so-called 'intelligence' on India, including the details about the killing of Khalistani separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar last year, to the American media much before it was revealed at home.
According to Canada's leading daily The Globe and Mail on October 29, the leak from Nathalie Drouin and David Morrison, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, accused India's powerful Home Affairs Minister Amit Shah of directing the violent operations from New Delhi.
The leaks once again exposed the continued vindictive campaign by the Trudeau government against India.
Last month, Trudeau, who has been harping on having "credible evidence" on India's involvement in the killing of Nijjar, admitted that Ottawa had only some intelligence inputs and no hard proof before publicly accusing India.
Testifying before the country's foreign interference inquiry, Trudeau admitted that New Delhi had demanded sharing of proofs – something that India continues to insist till date – after the allegations.
"At that point, it was more or less an intelligence rather than any solid evidence proof," admitted Trudeau in a video-conferenced hearing before the committee.
For long, New Delhi has been alleging that the Trudeau government had been "intentionally creating" space for violent extremists and terrorists to harass, threaten and intimidate Indian diplomats and community leaders in Canada.
India had announced that it would be withdrawing its High Commissioner Sanjay Kumar Verma and other diplomats from Canada on October 14, following the suggestion made by the Trudeau government in what New Delhi described as "preposterous imputations" that the Indian diplomats are 'persons of interest' in a matter related to an investigation in the country.
India had time and again made it clear that in such an atmosphere of extremism and violence, it could have no confidence in the present Canadian Government to guarantee their safety.
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