India And Pakistan Tried To Interfere In Canadian Elections, It's Top Spy Agency Claims
Date
4/5/2024 11:00:24 PM
(MENAFN- Live Mint) "India and Pakistan attempted to interfere and conduct clandestine activities in Canadian elections that took place in 2019 and 2021, the country's spy agency revealed on Thursday night.
The Canadian Security Intelligence Service on April 4 released the documents stating that the government of India had tried to use its proxy agency in Canada in 2021, according to an unclassified summary written by the CSIS.
Similarly, the Government of Pakistan had also attempted to“clandestinely influence” the Canadian Politics in 2019, Canada's foreign intelligence agency wrote as quoted by ca documents submitted as part of the federal commission inquiry into foreign influence contain stark assessments - potential interference in Canada's elections by India, China, Russia, and other countries. Currently, the matter is under public investigation.
David Vigneault clarified that intelligence is not necessarily fact, hence, it may require further investigation while all documents caution about the summaries being possibly uncorroborated, single-sourced or incomplete, the report added.
The CSIS document alleged that the Indian government targeted those ridings because there was a perception by India that“a portion of Indo-Canadian voters were sympathetic to the Khalistani movement or pro-Pakistan political stances”.
'Baseless allegations'Responding to Canadian reports, India rejected its interference in Canadian elections and called it“baseless allegation”. It asserted that the core issue has been Ottawa's meddling in New Delhi's internal affairs, PTI reported.
In February, External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said,“We have seen media reports about the Canadian commission enquiring into ...We strongly reject all such baseless allegations of Indian interference in Canadian elections.”\"It is not the government of India's policy to interfere in the democratic processes of other countries. In fact, quite on the reverse, it is Canada which has been interfering in our internal affairs,\" Jaiswal added.
The ties between India and Canada came under severe strain following Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's allegations last year of a“potential” involvement of Indian agents in the killing of Khalistani separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar in June 2023.
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