While India has dismissed the accusations as unfounded, Canadian authorities have continued to press forward with investigations
Canada’s intelligence agency has raised concerns that India is actively using cyber technology to monitor Sikh separatists overseas, intensifying its surveillance efforts and cyber-attacks against Canadian government networks, theguardian.com reported.
This development comes shortly after the Canadian government implicated a top Indian official in the 2023 murder of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a Canadian Sikh activist and prominent advocate for an independent Sikh state.
According to the Communications Security Establishment (CSE), Canada’s national cybersecurity agency, India has adopted sophisticated cyber tools to “track and surveil activists and dissidents living abroad.” The report points to increased cyber incursions, including Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks that have targeted critical Canadian infrastructure, specifically in retaliation against recent accusations.
Canada, home to the largest Sikh diaspora outside India, includes many activists advocating for “Khalistan,” a proposed independent Sikh homeland in India’s Punjab region. Tensions have escalated following Ottawa’s accusation that senior Indian officials orchestrated Nijjar’s assassination. The CSE’s chief, Caroline Xavier, emphasized the evolving nature of India as a “cyber threat actor” and underscored the rift between the two countries as a driving factor behind these cyber intrusions.
The escalating cyber and diplomatic dispute has intensified tensions and spotlighted the challenges in bilateral relations between Ottawa and Delhi as they navigate complex issues around national security, diaspora communities, and cybersecurity
Officials in Ottawa disclosed that they have traced a series of coordinated campaigns against Canadian Sikh activists to the highest levels of India’s government. Testifying before Canada’s House of Commons Public Safety and National Security Committee, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs David Morrison confirmed that Indian Home Affairs Minister Amit Shah allegedly authorized a campaign aimed at intimidating Sikh separatists in Canada, including Nijjar’s killing. This information, corroborated by an unnamed senior official and reported in The Washington Post, alleges that Shah sanctioned intelligence-gathering operations against Canadian Sikhs.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Canadian law enforcement have indicated that there is credible evidence linking India to the murder, along with a broader campaign of intimidation targeting Sikh activists. Both countries recently escalated their diplomatic standoff, each expelling senior diplomats in response to the allegations.
***********************************************************
Readers
These are extraordinary times. All of us have to rely on high-impact, trustworthy journalism. And this is especially true of the Indian Diaspora. Members of the Indian community overseas cannot be fed with inaccurate news.
Pravasi Samwad is a venture that has no shareholders. It is the result of an impassioned initiative of a handful of Indian journalists spread around the world. We have taken a small step forward with the pledge to provide news with accuracy, free from political and commercial influence. Our aim is to keep you, our readers, informed about developments at ‘home’ and across the world that affect you.
Please help us to keep our journalism independent and free.
In these difficult times, running a news website requires finances. While every contribution, big or small, will make a difference, we request our readers to put us in touch with advertisers worldwide. It will be a great help.
For more information: pravasisamwad00@gmail.com