India has rejected Justin Trudeau’s allegations as “absurd” and “motivated”.
Toronto:
According to a media report on Saturday, a senior US diplomat has confirmed that there was “shared intelligence between Five Eyes partners” that substantiated Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s insulting allegation about the involvement of Indian agents in the killing of a Khalistani terrorist in Canada would have triggered.
There is “shared intelligence between Five Eyes partners” that supports Trudeau’s public claim of a “potential” connection between the Indian government and the murder of a Canadian citizen, CTV News Channel, Canada’s 24-hour all-news network, reported Appointment of US Ambassador to Canada David Cohen.
The Five Eyes network is an intelligence alliance consisting of the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada and New Zealand. It is based on both surveillance and signals intelligence (SIGINT).
Justin Trudeau had made an explosive allegation on September 18 about the “potential” involvement of Indian agents in the June 18 killing of Khalistani extremist Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a Canadian citizen, in Surrey, British Columbia.
India has rejected Trudeau’s allegations as “absurd” and “motivated”. A senior Canadian diplomat was also expelled, equivalent to Ottawa’s expulsion of an Indian official in this case.
In 2020, India designated 45-year-old Nijjar as a terrorist.
CTV’s report is based on his exclusive interview on CTV’s “Question Period with Vassy Kapelos,” which airs Sunday.
CTV quoted Cohen as saying he confirmed: “There was shared intelligence between the Five Eyes partners that contributed to Canada making the Prime Minister’s statements.” “In the days since, diplomatic tensions have continued to rise – from Canada’s reassessment of personnel in India to India’s suspension of visa services for Canadians – there have been constant questions about which intelligence agencies are at the center of this story, who knew about it? it and when,” says the CTV report.
It further added that while Cohen declined to comment on whether the intelligence input into the Canadian government’s investigation was based on both people and surveillance or whether it included signals intelligence from Indian diplomats, the US envoy to Canada said: ” There was shared intelligence between the Five Eyes partners that contributed to Canada making the statements that the Prime Minister made.” This is the first admission by a U.S. government official about Five Eyes sharing of intelligence information- Partner to Canada, although there have been several unofficial and unofficial reports about it.
The CTV report also mentioned that there were reports from the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) and The Associated Press that the intelligence Trudeau was talking about was not just from Canada and that additional information came from an unspecified member of the intelligence alliance were provided.
“He (Cohen) made the comment while denying a Washington Post report that claimed Ottawa had asked its closest allies, including the United States, to publicly condemn the killing weeks before Trudeau’s groundbreaking statement, and that overture was rejected rejected,” CTV said.
“I would like to say quite frankly – and you know me well enough – that I am not in the habit of commenting on private diplomatic conversations,” Cohen was quoted as saying.
“Look, I would say it was a matter of shared intelligence,” he said, adding: “There has been a lot of communication between Canada and the United States on this issue and I think that’s all I have “I can imagine.” Cohen said.
Cohen’s comments came as Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the US was “deeply concerned” about Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau’s allegations against India and that Washington had “coordinated closely” with Ottawa on the matter and wanted to see “accountability” in the case.
At a news conference in New York on Friday, Blinken said the U.S. has been working directly with the Indian government on this matter and the completion of that investigation is the most fruitful.
“We have consulted very closely with our Canadian colleagues on this issue throughout – and not just advised and coordinated with them. And from our perspective, it is vital that the Canadian investigation continues and it would be important for India to cooperate with them.” “Canadians in this investigation. We want to see accountability and it is important that the investigation takes its course and leads to that outcome,” Blinken said.