Canadian Panel Says India Threat to Democracy, Pannu Case Developments

A new report by a high-level Canadian parliamentary panel has concluded that India is the second biggest foreign threat to Canada’s democracy after China, with Canadian PM Justin Trudeau saying his govt. takes the matter of foreign interference ‘very seriously.’ The report is by the National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians, a cross-party group of MPs and senators with top security clearances. It was submitted to the Canadian PM’s Office in May but tabled in Parliament, with redactions, this week. The report said India has ‘emerged as the second-most significant foreign interference threat to Canada’s democratic institutions and processes,’ displacing Russia. India’s ‘foreign interference efforts have slowly increased’ and extended beyond countering pro-Khalistan elements in Canada. These efforts now ‘include interfering in Canadian democratic processes and institutions, including through the targeting of Canadian politicians, ethnic media and Indo-Canadian ethnocultural communities.’ The report mentions India 44 times in its 84 pages (SDW Vol. 2 Issue 16, Story 3). There was no immediate response to the report from Indian officials. In the US, Federal Bureau of Investigation director Christopher Wray answered questions on the US efforts to extradite Nikhil Gupta, an accused in the plot to assassinate Gurpatwant Singh Pannu from the Czech Republic. In a bid to stall his extradition to the US, Gupta asked the Czech court to determine if he was an agent working for the Indian secret service and if he could have refused the order to kill Pannun. The court rebutted the argument saying it was absurd to consider a democracy like India would resort to such methods (SDW Vol. 2 Issue 18, Story 1).