OTTAWA, ON – Canada’s deputy foreign minister on Tuesday confirmed a report that Canada claims an Indian Cabinet minister and a close adviser to Prime Minister Narendra Modi ordered the collection of information operations targeting Canadians.

The Washington Post first reported that Canadian officials alleged that Indian Home Affairs Minister Amit Shah was behind a campaign of violence and intimidation targeting Sikh separatists in Canada.

Deputy Foreign Minister David Morrison told members of Parliament’s national security committee on Tuesday that he was the one who confirmed Shah’s name to the newspaper.

“The journalist called me and asked if she was that person. We have confirmed that it was that person,” Morrison told the committee.

Morrison did not say how Canadian authorities know this.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said a year ago that Canada had credible evidence that Indian government agents were involved the killing of Canadian Hardeep Singh Nijjar in British Columbia in June 2023.

Canadian authorities have repeatedly said they have shared evidence of this with Indian authorities.

Indian government officials have repeatedly denied that Canada has provided evidence and have dismissed the allegations as absurd. The Indian embassy in Ottawa did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment on the allegation against Shah.

On October 14, Canada expelled Indian High Commissioner a and five other diplomats, claiming they were persons of interest in multiple cases of coercion, intimidation and violence aimed at quieting a campaign for an independent Sikh state known as Khalistan.

Canada is not the only country that accused Indian officials of plotting an assassination on foreign soil. The US Department of Justice this month announced criminal charges against an Indian government employee in connection with an alleged foiled plot to kill a Sikh separatist leader living in New York City.

In the case announced by the Justice Department, Vikash Yadav, who authorities say led the New York plot from India, faces murder charges on his own in a planned assassination that prosecutors previously said was intended to it precedes a series of other politically motivated crimes. in the United States and Canada.

Nathalie Drouin, Trudeau’s national security adviser, told the committee on Tuesday that Canada has evidence that the Indian government for the first time gathered information about Indian citizens and Canadian citizens in Canada through diplomatic channels and proxies.

She said the information was then passed on to the government in New Delhi, which is believed to be working with a criminal network linked to Lawrence Bishnoi.

Bishnoi is currently in prison in India, but Drouin said his vast criminal network was linked to murders, assassination plots, coercion and other violent crimes in Canada.

Before the Royal Canadian Mounted Police went public with allegations that Indian diplomats were persons of interest in criminal investigations, Drouin said there was an effort to work with the Indian government to ensure accountability.

Drouin said there was a meeting with Modi’s national security adviser Ajit Doval in Singapore two days earlier.

Drouin said the decision was made public when it became apparent that the Indian government would not cooperate with Canada on the proposed accountability measures.

This included asking India to waive diplomatic immunity for persons of interest, including the High Commissioner in Ottawa. Drouin said this was not seen as likely.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police said it took the extraordinary step of speaking publicly about ongoing investigations because of threats to public safety.

The Indian government denies the allegations and has instead expelled six Canadian diplomats.

Nijjar, 45, was fatally shot in his van after leaving the Sikh temple he ran in Surrey, British Columbia. An Indian-born citizen of Canada, he owned a plumbing business and was a leader in what remained of a once-powerful movement to create an independent Sikh homeland.

Four Indian nationals living in Canada have been charged with Niijar’s murder and are awaiting trial.

Drouin and Morrison were called as witnesses before the committee along with Royal Canadian Mounted Police Commissioner Mike Duheme, as well as the director of Canada’s intelligence service.