Australia’s intelligence chief has supported Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau’s accusations towards India over Hardeep Singh Nijjar’s homicide.
Final month, Mr Trudeau stated there have been credible allegations of a possible hyperlink between “brokers of the Indian authorities” and the homicide of Nijjar.
Now, Mike Burgess, director of the Australian Safety Intelligence Organisation [ASIO], stated he has “no purpose to dispute” Canada’s claims.
He was talking on the sidelines of a gathering of 5 Eyes intelligence companions in California.
Mr Burgess was quoted as saying by ABC Information that there was “no purpose to dispute what the Canadian authorities has stated on this matter”.
“There’s little doubt any allegation of any nation being accused of finishing up an execution of a citizen in that nation, it’s a severe allegation, and one thing that we don’t do and one thing that nations shouldn’t do.”
Three months after Nijjar’s killing, Mr Trudeau stated: “Any involvement of a international authorities within the killing of a Canadian citizen on Canadian soil is an unacceptable violation of our sovereignty.”
India rejected Canada’s “absurd and motivated” allegations whereas accusing the Trudeau authorities of permitting the Khalistan motion to thrive. The Sikh secessionist motion requires a separate homeland for the Sikh spiritual neighborhood to be carved out of India’s Punjab state.
In India, Nijjar was listed as a needed terrorist and the topic of a Rs 1m (£9,710) bounty for info resulting in his arrest. A supporter of Sikh separatist causes, Nijjar was accused of main a proscribed militant organisation referred to as the Khalistan Tiger Drive.
A number of Sikh leaders in Australia have expressed their assist for Canada’s allegations and voiced issues that Nijjar’s dying has instilled concern of potential violence inside their communities. Responding to this, Mr Burgess stated: “Whether or not or not it is going to occur right here, I wouldn’t publicly speculate, I don’t assume that’s acceptable.”
He continued: “I can guarantee you that once we discover governments interfering in our nation, or planning to intervene in our nation, we’ll cope with them successfully.”
Mr Burgess identified there’s a distinction between neighborhood tensions, resembling those who have arisen from occasions just like the vote associated to the Khalistan motion, and international interference by the Indian authorities.
“For us, that performs out in society, you see protests, counter-protests, and generally there’s communal violence or spontaneous violence,” he stated.
“That’s not a nation-state in search of to intervene and covertly or deceptively hurt and intimidate folks.
“In fact, if we see that we’ll act.”
The killing of 45-year-old Nijjar torpedoed relations between India and Canada, resulting in the firing of diplomats and derailment of commerce talks.
Nijjar was president of the Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara in Surrey, British Columbia, and was killed on 18 June on the gurudwara’s premises.