India reacted strongly to reports of social media handles and pages of an Australian news outlet being blocked in Canada, hours after the press conference of External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong, as well as an interview with the Indian Minister. Is of. Said that such actions expose Canada’s hypocrisy towards freedom of expression.
During his visit to Australia, which will end on Thursday, Mr Jaishankar met Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and also co-chaired the 15th Foreign Ministers’ Framework Dialogue with Ms Wong.
Asked about the blocking of Australia Today’s social media handles in Canada, External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said on Thursday, “We understand that the social media handles and pages of this outlet, which is an important diaspora outlet, are being blocked.” Have been blocked and are. It is not available to viewers in Canada, this happened hours after this particular handle aired the Foreign Minister’s press conference with Penny Wong.
Noting that the outlet had published an interview with Mr Jaishankar as well as several articles on his visit, Mr Jaiswal said, “We were surprised. It seems strange to us. But, still, these actions Which once again exposes Canada’s hypocrisy. In her media interaction, the Foreign Minister talked about three things: a pattern in Canada of making allegations without evidence, surveillance of Indian diplomats – which she called unacceptable – and Canada Political space being given to opponents in India. So you can draw your own conclusions from this as to why Australia Today channel was blocked.”
Last week, India had said that some of its consular officials had been informed by the Canadian government that they were under audio and video surveillance. Terming the action a “gross violation” of diplomatic conventions, India had said Canada cannot hide behind technicalities to justify its harassment and intimidation and lodged a protest with the Canadian government.
Mr Jaiswal also confirmed that some consular camps in Toronto have been canceled as they have not received security assurances from Canada. The announcement came days after the November 3 attack on a Hindu temple in Brampton, where a consular camp was being held. PM Narendra Modi had also condemned the attack and criticized “cowardly attempts” to intimidate Indian diplomats in Canada.
Relations between India and Canada have been strained after Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau claimed last year, without presenting any evidence, that “Indian agents” were involved in the killing of Khalistani terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar. New Delhi has repeatedly rejected this allegation and has asked Canada to present evidence to support the claim.
The relationship reached a new low last month when the Indian High Commissioner was declared a “person of interest” in the murder. India rejected the new allegation as “ridiculous” and withdrew the high commissioner and some diplomats, while expelling six Canadian officials, including Acting High Commissioner to Canada Stewart Ross Wheeler.
