'Highlights hypocrisy': India after Canada bans news outlet 'Australia Today' for carrying Jaishankar's interview

New Delhi: The access to a web portal focussed on the news related to the Indian Australian community Down Under was blocked in Canada prompting New Delhi to accuse Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government in Ottawa of hypocrisy.

The access to Australia Today was blocked in Canada after it published a report on the joint press conference of External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and his counterpart Penny Wong in Canberra. Jaishankar, replying to the questions from journalists, had condemned the attacks by the Khalistani Sikh extremists on people who had come to a consular camp organised by New Delhi’s missions in Ottawa and Toronto in association with Hindu Sabha Mandir in Brampton. He had accused the Canadian government of yielding much space to the extremists. He had also strongly denounced surveillance on India’s diplomats in Canada.

"We understand that the social media handles, pages of this particular outlet, which is an important diaspora outlet, have been blocked and are not available for viewers in Canada,” Randhir Jaiswal, the spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs, said. He said the access to Australia Today was blocked in Canada just an hour or few hours after it had published the press conference of Jaishankar with Wong,

"We were surprised. It looks strange to us. But nonetheless, what I say is that these are actions which yet again highlight the hypocrisy of Canada towards freedom of speech," said Jaiswal. Trudeau and his government often invoked freedom of speech to justify its lack of action against the Khalistan Sikh extremists in Canada, despite requests from India.

He said Jaishankar, in his media interactions in Australian capital Canberra, had spoken about the allegations levelled against India by Canada without sharing any specific evidence.

A series of incidents of protests by the Khalistani Sikh extremists and attacks on the devotees of the Hindu Sabha Mandir and consular officials of the Government of India in Canada took place even as the relations between New Delhi and Ottawa hit a new low last year.

The Trudeau Government recently accused New Delhi’s envoy to Ottawa, Sanjay Kumar Verma, and his five colleagues of having a role in the June 18, 2023, killing of Khalistani Sikh extremist Hardeep Singh Nijjar, who had managed to secure citizenship in Canada despite being one of the most wanted fugitive terrorists of India. New Delhi withdrew Verma and its other diplomats in the North American country after denying Ottawa’s request for waiving their diplomatic immunity and making them available for questioning by the police investigators in connection with the murder of Nijjar.

India also retaliated by expelling six diplomats of Canada.