‘Harassment, intimidation’: India alleges surveillance of officials in Canada

Amid a diplomatic crisis between India and Canada worsening by the day, the government on Saturday accused Ottawa of surveillance on the country’s consular staff there.
Randhir Jaiswal, spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs, said that Canada had put Indian officials under audio and video surveillance and was ‘harassing and intimidating’ them by resorting to such measures.
“Some of our consular officials were recently informed by the Canadian government that they have been and continued to be under audio and video surveillance. Their communications have also been intercepted. We have formally protested to the Canadian government, as we deem these actions to be in flagrant violation of relevant diplomatic and consular conventions”, Jaiswal told reporters during a press meet in Delhi on Saturday, adding that such actions made it difficult to establish diplomatic norms and practices.
“By citing technicalities, the Canadian government cannot justify the fact that it is indulging in harassment and intimidation. Our diplomatic and consular personnel are already functioning in an environment of extremism and violence,” Jaiswal added.
The ongoing diplomatic standoff originated from the Canadian government’s statement last month in which it said that the Indian diplomats in Ottawa were the ‘persons of interest’ in its probe into Khalistani-terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar’s killing in September 2023.
After Nijjar’s killing, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau alleged that certain Indian agents were involved in the murder, a charge vehemently refuted by the Indian government.
The Canadian government statement last month led India to recall its High Commissioner in Ottawa and other targeted diplomats. The Canadian government then expelled the six diplomats, prompting India to reciprocate the move.
Since then, a war of words and a series of allegations and counter-allegations has been going on between the two countries, with no signs of the tensions being defused any time soon.