Indian diplomats in Canada told they are under surveillance: External Affairs Ministry

Indian diplomats in Vancouver have been informed by Canadian authorities that they were, and continue to be, under audio and video surveillance, and that their “private communications” are being intercepted, the Union government informed Parliament on Thursday.

“Government of India lodged a strong protest with the Canadian High Commission in New Delhi on this issue…[on] 02 November 2024 as these actions were a flagrant violation of all diplomatic provisions,” Minister of State for External Affairs Kirti Vardhan Singh said in the Rajya Sabha.

This came in response to an MP’s question about incidents of cyber surveillance, or other forms of surveillance, targeting Indian diplomats in Canada.

Diplomatic ties between New Delhi and Ottawa have been strained since September 2023, when Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said that his country’s intelligence agencies were actively pursuing “credible allegations” tying agents of the Indian government to the killing of Khalistan separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Surrey, near Vancouver.

Nijjar was a supporter of Khalistan, an independent nation for Sikhs that some members of the community seek to carve out of India. He was the head of the Khalistan Tiger Force, which is designated a terrorist outfit in India.

At the time, New Delhi rejected the allegations as “absurd and motivated” and said that they were an attempt by Ottawa...

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