Documents released by the foreign interference inquiry on Thursday describe widespread threats and harassment of Canadian Sikhs by the government of India, much of it coordinated by diplomatic missions.
Witnesses told the Hogue Commission behind closed doors India had threatened their families, spied on temples and meddled in Canada’s elections, according to the newly unsealed documents.
India “interferes in Canada because there is no reason not to,” one witness told the commission, adding that “the Canadian government has been largely impotent in the face of interference.”
“There have been no consequences.”
The documents summarize hundreds of written submissions received from Canadians during public consultations and meetings with more than 100 members of diaspora communities.
They included Chinese, Iranian and Ukrainian participants, but the statements of Sikh Canadians are particularly noteworthy, providing a community-level view of the alleged tactics of the Indian government.
Indian foreign interference has seen “an acceleration” since Prime Minister Narendra Modi came to power in 2014, with high-ranking officials vowing that “dissidents in other countries would be eliminated,” one witness said.
Canada has labeled India the second most serious foreign interference threat to the country, behind only China. India’s campaign focuses largely on the Khalistan movement, which advocates for independence for the Sikh-majority Punjab region.
In the documents, a witness said that after he attended a protest outside India’s high commission in Ottawa, police in India visited his family and threatened his mother and brother, who was forced to flee to Dubai.
Other witnesses described attempts to sway elections, and alleged India “exerts influence in the Canadian political party nomination process,” and applies pressure to “red light” candidates critical of the Republic of India, or ROI.
“Certain attendees discussed the consequences faced by political candidates who publicly speak out against the ROI’s human rights record or advocate on behalf of the Sikh community,” the commission wrote.
India weaponizing travel visas to silence critics, Sikh community says
A candidate who ran for municipal council in an unnamed Canadian city alleged being targeted during the campaign by “online bots and agents” of the Indian government.
“Certain attendees described their experiences as targets of coordinated disinformation and misinformation campaigns conducted on social media platforms and via online news environments, along with related online harassment,” the commission said.
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Sikh temple elections were another alleged target of India’s consulates, according to the submissions, which also claimed consulate officials routinely denied visa services to Sikhs advocates trying to travel to India.
It is “commonplace for members of the Sikh Canadian community to discuss whether elected officials in Canada are agents of the ROI or manipulated by the ROI,” another participant said.
Indian diplomatic missions should be banned from carrying out influence operations in temples “such as recruiting sources to gather intelligence on community members,” another said.
“Influence activities originating from or coordinated by Indian diplomatic missions across Canada needed to be curtailed,” according to the commission’s summary of the testimony.
Another witness accused India of operating “police stations in Canada by appointing high-ranking law enforcement officials under the garb of diplomats. … these police stations apply pressure on Indian Canadians and threaten Canadian activists’ family members in the ROI.”
The witnesses called for more transparency from Canadian intelligence agencies and decision-makers, and better ways of reporting incidents of Indian foreign interference and transnational repression.
A permanent task force is needed to investigate and counter foreign interference and “coordinate between relevant agencies” while reporting its findings to the public, another witness suggested.
Those warned by police that their lives are in danger “must also be offered some sort of protection.” One community member said that “without this protection, people may stay silent for fear of being murdered on Canadian soil.”
Evidence links violent crimes in Canada to Indian government
On June 18, 2003, Sikh temple leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar was gunned down in Surrey, B.C., in a killing Canada has blamed on the Indian government.
While New Delhi denies involvement, the U.S. has charged an Indian intelligence official for allegedly plotting to kill one of Nijjar’s close associates, Gurpatwant Singh Pannun.
The RCMP alleged in October that Indian officials were behind not only Nijjar’s murder but also a wave of violence across Canada that has included shootings, arsons and extortions.
The attacks were allegedly approved by Modi’s right-hand man, Amit Shah, and orchestrated by Indian intelligence officials in cooperation with organized crime groups like the Lawrence Bishnoi gang.
Canada expelled six diplomats over their role in the scheme last fall. They had been posted at India’s missions in Ottawa, Toronto and Vancouver.
India denies involvement.
The allegations come in the wake of a Global News investigation that revealed how Indian officials manipulate their travel visa system to exploit Canadians of Indian origin.
The Indian government responded to the Dec. 10 Global News exposé by claiming the Canadian press was engaged in “disinformation” and “foreign interference” against India.
But the inquiry documents also highlight the scheme, with one witness alleging that when he sought a visa he was told to sign a pre-written letter in what he called “a form of harassment in what they believe was an operation of interference.”
Stewart.Bell@globalnews.ca
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