India-Canada News: As the diplomatic fissure became wider between New Delhi and Ottawa, now the Canadian intelligence agency levelled serious allegations against the Indian government. Accusing Indian agencies of tracking Sikh separatists using cyber-technical tools, it also said that Indian authorities are planning cyber attacks against Canadian government network infrastructure.
The warning came a day after Canadian officials linked a top Indian leader for authorising violence on the country’s soil including the killing of a Khalistani terrorist in Vancouver.
Canada’s Communications Security Establishment (CSE), the cybersecurity-intelligence agency in a report on Thursday said that India is using its cyber-space capabilities “to track and surveil activists and dissidents living abroad”. The report also stated that New Delhi is stepping up cyber attacks on the Canadian government’s cyber infrastructure, news agency AP reported.
This comes as India and Canada remained at diplomatic loggerheads over the killing of Khalistani separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar, who was killed in June 2022 in British Columbia in a car parking of a Surrey Gurudwara. While Canadian PM Trudeau pinned his murder on ‘agents of the Indian government’, India has been vehemently denying the charges.
“It is clear that we are seeing India being an emerging [cyber] threat actor,” the CSE chief, Caroline Xavier, told a news conference.
The report stated that a rift in bilateral ties between India and Canada is likely driving these activities.
The report states that following Canada’s accusations, a “pro-India hacktivist group” launched severe DDoS attacks—overloading systems with online traffic to disrupt access—targeting Canadian websites, including the military’s public site, the Guardian reported.
This comes days after Canadian officials disclosed that Ottawa has linked a campaign targeting Canadian Khalistan activists to senior officials in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government.
Testifying before the House of Commons Public Safety and National Security Committee, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs David Morrison confirmed a Washington Post report implicating Indian Home Affairs Minister Amit Shah in efforts to intimidate and potentially harm Canadian Sikhs.