India-Canada row: India trashes ‘absurd and baseless’ allegations against Home Minister Amit Shah, summons Canadian official

India-Canada row: Amidst the continuing diplomatic stand-off with Canada, India on Friday summoned a representative of the Canadian High Commission, while terming the allegations levelled by a Canadian minister against Union Home Minister Amit Shah as “absurd and baseless”, warning that these accusations will have serious consequences on India-Canada bilateral ties.

“India has protested within the strongest that you may perhaps take into accout terms the references made by a Canadian minister about Union Home Minister Amit Shah and such absurd and baseless allegations will have serious consequences for bilateral ties between both countries,” the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), said Saturday.

Addressing the weekly press briefing, MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said the revelation that top Canadian government officials deliberately leaked “unfounded insinuations to international media as a element of a unsleeping method to discredit India and influence other nations best confirms the view that the Indian government has long held about the present Canadian government’s political agenda and behavioral pattern.”

Jaiswal warned such “irresponsible actions” will have serious consequences for bilateral ties.

The MEA spokesperson also informed that India summoned a Canadian High Commission representative on Friday and the official became served a diplomatic note to lodge the protest in strongest terms on the “absurd and baseless” references made by the Canadian deputy minister about India’s Union Home Minister.

Canadian minister accuses Shah of ‘ordering violence’ in Canada

MEA’s response came after Canada’s Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister David Morrison on Tuesday alleged that Amit Shah ordered a campaign of violence, intimidation and intelligence-gathering targeting Sikh separatists inside Canada.

Morrison had also told Canadian Parliament members of the national security committee that he had confirmed Shah’s name to The Washington Post, which first reported the allegations. On the alternative hand, Morrison failed to reveal how Canada uncovered Shah’s alleged involvement.

The advance comes a day after Canada’s spy agency placed India on the list of countries from which Canada faces a risk of a cyber attack, alleging that India had used its cyber capabilities to target Khalistani Sikh separatists and Canadian government networks.

India-Canada row

India-Canada diplomatic ties have taken a nosedive since Prime Minister Trudeau alleged in September 2023 that Indian agents were hooked in to the killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a Khalistani terrorist, who became shot dead by masked gunmen outside a gurdwara in in Surrey, British Columbia in June that year.

India has time and again and vehemently rejected Trudeau’s charges as “absurd” and criticized his government for being soft on Khalistani supporters living in Canada. The Khalistan movement is banned in India but has support one of a couple of many Sikh diaspora, especially in Canada.

Last month, India expelled six Canadian diplomats, following which Canada, in a tit-for-tat move also ordered six Indian diplomats to leave the U.S..

In a statement, the MEA said India received a “diplomatic verbal exchange from Canada suggesting that the Indian High Commissioner and other diplomats are ‘persons of interest’ in a matter related to an investigation in that usa”.

“Now we have not got any faith within the present Canadian government’s commitment to make certain their security. Therefore, the govt.. of India has determined to withdraw the high commissioner and other targeted diplomats and officials,” the MEA had said.

(With inputs from agencies)