Canada’s allegations and realities on the ground
This article is authored by Tara Kartha, director, Centre for Land Warfare Studies, New Delhi.
Events in Canada are anything but encouraging. In stark contrast to the Canadian Prime Minister (PM), Narendra Modi has retained a dignified posture to the whole brouhaha, leaving it to lower officials to sort out what is essentially a series of allegations and public spats. The brutal attack on Canadian Hindus and Indian nationals in Brampton, lead him to break his silence to call for law and order, and also to condemn in the strongest words, the attempts to intimidate Indian consular officials and diplomats present at the event. Over a year, Canada-India tensions have been splashed across newspapers in both countries, as well as the US and Asian newspapers. The end result is a somewhat skewed view of what are the real issues at stake. Some of these are procedural. Others are systemic.
First, is the realities of the activities of embassies abroad. Diplomats don’t just negotiate trade deals, attend expensive lunches, and hand out visas. One vital job is to collect information – as against intelligence – about issues within the country, especially that that directly affect domestic interests. That also means meeting with political parties of all kinds. United States (US) ambassador Eric Garcetti recently met with Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge, just after meeting National Conference leaders, Officials even Earlier, they met All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen chief Asaduddin Owaisi. The Canadian ambassador has met the chief minister of Punjab from the Aam Admi Party. All of which caused a stir in the media and cries of foreign interference. When this extends to get politicians or others progeny into coveted seats in foreign universities. The United Kingdom leads in this. That’s interference too. And it happens. Then are a range of ‘friendlies’, like think tanks and non-governmental organisations who ‘reach out’ to influencers and think tanks. Many foreign corporations fund their events generously. None of this is strictly illegal. But a heavily redacted report notes Indian interference extended beyond countering perceived pro-Khalistani activity, to include “interfering in democratic processes and institutions, including through the targeting of Canadian politicians, ethnic media and Indo-Canadian ethnocultural communities”. That covers all of the above, and perhaps more. Incidentally, the report incudes at least three more unknown countries undertaking such efforts, apart from China, Russia and Pakistan. At a Standing Committee hearing, Canadian officials could not rule out that other democracies were not involved in similar activities.
Second is the issue of collecting hard intelligence by Indian missions. Activities of so called “Khalistani’ groups, who are more often criminals of various hues, like Sukhdool Singh of the Bambiha gang, killed last September, have obviously been the focus of concern, In fact in 1989, two Indian consular officials were asked to leave, after they failed to get a slumbering Canadian intelligence to share some intelligence on terrorists responsible for the Kanishka bombing of June 1985. Incidentally, that incident was not trumpeted to the media but handled quietly with minimal fuss. But this issue would have been prioritised for years, by the ‘spies’ posted with them. All countries post their intelligence agents imperfectly disguised as visa officers or other secondary posts. Everyone knows who they are, and they all know the other foreign intel persons too. There’s a gentleman’s agreement that each won’t out the other, and they all indulge in what they’re best at – spying. That means collecting information on all those inimical to your country’s interests or persuading others to ‘come over’ to their point of view. Most of this is mundane, and involves making useful contacts.
Getting beyond that is the problem. Therefore, there is a third tier to all this which includes activities you can’t do that openly especially in an inimical State. So, everyone, particularly the big powers use a range of underworld kinds or low-level information gatherers to get their data for them. The US for instance, seems to use drug dealers for this. Remember David Headley who was an ‘asset’ of the Drug Enforcement Agency, and then let off their books to become part of US intelligence to spy out the land in the 26/11 case. Its intel agencies have targeted Venezuela’s President Nicolás Maduro, Bolivia’s former President Evo Morales, and Mexico’s President Andrés Manuel López Obrador. The Israelis use anyone and everyone, even Iranian officials. The Pakistani backing of Khalistan has long hinged on criminal groups with the likes of Arsh Dalla in Canada, or Babbar Khalsa International member Lakhbir Singh Sandhu alias Landa for whom the agency has announced a reward of ₹15 lakh. Since Canada treats them with kid gloves, it is vital that Indian intelligence get all it can about their operations using all means available. If the tables were turned, so would Canada. In fact, if they didn’t they would be failing in their duty.
Fourth and finally is the issue of targeting terrorists. It is now mundane to even list the number of such undesirables killed by the United States. Given their murderous histories, one wishes Washington well. In fact, the United Nations Charter gives states the right of self-defence against all such armed attacks with certain stringent conditions, as use of proportionate force. That was hardly followed in Resolution 1368, adopted after 9/11 under Chapter VII of the UN Charter ( which deals with the use of armed force in self defence) where the US and its allies bombed and strafed Afghanistan. A whole Chatham House study even considers preventive attacks against an imminent terrorist threat. But the key here is that the ‘international community’ has to recognise it as a terrorism issue. That’s a political question.
In the case of Canada, there is also a systemic problem. The existence of multiple terrorist groups has long been a reality brought up repeatedly by Indian intelligence. In recent days, the Canadians seem to have realised that taking no action at all might just be dangerous to their health. Authorities, therefore, raided a 'super lab' producing huge amounts of fentanyl and methamphetamine, run by a Punjab origin person. Yet another operation with the US targeted cross border drug operations, again run by the same ethnic groups. That is the source of terrorist ops, at seems the Canadian intel has finally woken up, though this is after Canadian police arrested Hindus instead of the terrorists in the recent temple attack. That’s surreal. Meanwhile, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) issued a 'strategy paper', where it bitterly observed the lack of intelligence sharing on radical groups by allies or even within its system. Now they’re trying to rectify that. That’s progress in rectifying a systemic problem, where even the role of the RCMP is rather undefined. Meanwhile, a group of Hindus and Sikhs in Canada comprising some 36 societies, have passed a Resolution against Khalistan and Trudeau as well. That arose directly from the State’s inability to deal with the Khalistanis, and underlines that the Sikh vote doesn’t hinge on Khalistan in the least. That’s the way to go. Canadians have to tell their PM that they’ve had enough. Nothing else seems likely to work in getting Canadian authorities to understand realities on the ground and international diplomatic activity.
This article is authored by Tara Kartha, director, Centre for Land Warfare Studies, New Delhi.
