'Crisis Precipitated By Baseless Allegations': MEA Slams Canada For Not Sharing 'Any Shred Of Evidence'

MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal slammed Canada for levelling serious allegations against India but failing to provide any evidence to back it up.

As the ongoing diplomatic tensions between India and Canada continue to simmer, the Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal on Thursday reiterated that Canada has not shared any shred of information with India since September 2023. He also slammed Canada for levelling serious allegations against India but failing to provide any evidence to back it up. 

The MEA spokesperson's remarks came a day after Canadian PM Justin Trudeau admitted that he did not have hard proof to substantiate the allegations against India and that Canada only had intel about the alleged involvement of Indian government agents in the killing of Khalistani separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar. 

"We have made our position very clear on this matter, several press releases have been issued in the last two days putting out our position which is very clear that since September 2023, the Canadian government has not shared any shred of information with us. Yesterday again, after the public hearing, we had issued a statement saying that Canada has levelled serious allegations but has so far not given any evidence to back it up," Jaiswal said.

While responding to a question on India's stance on several countries commenting on the ongoing diplomatic row with Canada, Jaiswal said: "I would allude to the statement made by the State Department; we would say that as far as the allegations are concerned, PM Trudeau's own admission yesterday would indicate the value as regards our stance on the allegations. We will naturally reject false imputations against our diplomats." 

Earlier today, MEA had issued a statement following Trudeau's admission saying that what it has heard in the Canadian PM's testimony only confirms what India had been saying all along. "Canada has presented us no evidence whatsoever in support of the serious allegations that it has chosen to level against India and Indian diplomats," the MEA statement read.

On Monday, India had expelled six Canadian diplomats and announced that it would be withdrawing its High Commissioner from Canada. Commenting on this, Jaiswal said that India made the decision to summon the High Commissioner as it has "no faith" that Canada would keep the diplomats safely.

"We had summoned the acting High Commissioner of Canada and thereafter conveyed that we had no faith that the Canadian government will look after the safety of our diplomats and therefore, we had taken a decision to withdraw our High Commissioner and five other diplomats along with him. Subsequent to that, we saw that there was a communication from the Canadian side asking them to leave, but we had withdrawn our diplomats before their decision," Randhir Jaiswal stated.

The MEA spokesperson also spoke about India-Canada ties, which have clearly hit an all time low after Trudeau's allegations against India. He said that the ongoing crisis was initiated by the Canadian PM's "baseless allegations".

"India-Canada economic ties are very strong and vibrant. We have large Indian diaspora in Canada which is a bridge through which we maintain strong people-to-people links with Canada. We have possibly the largest cohort of international students in Canada as well. This particular crisis has been precipitated by Trudeau government's baseless allegations. This is how we see the relationship going forward," he adds.