NEW DELHI: Days after Canadian deputy foreign minister David Morrison claimed he had leaked Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s name to The Washington Post as the one who ordered a campaign against Sikh separatists living in Canada, India summoned its diplomat here and warned that the baseless allegations would have serious consequences for bilateral ties.A representative of the Canadian High Commission was summoned on Friday and handed a Diplomatic Note. “It was conveyed in the note that India protests in the strongest terms the absurd and baseless references made to the Union Home Minister of India before the Canadian Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security in Ottawa on October 29 by Morrison,” said Ministry of External Affairs spokesman Randhir Jaiswal on Saturday.Fifteen Indian diplomats still serving across missions in Canada are under audio and video surveillance, he said. “Some of our consular officials were recently informed by the Canadian government that they have been and continued to be under audio and video surveillance. Their communications have also been intercepted. We have formally protested to the Canadian government as we deem these actions to be a flagrant violation of relevant diplomatic and consular conventions,” Jaiswal said.The MEA said the Canadian government cannot justify its harassment and intimidation of Indian diplomats. “Our diplomatic and consular personnel are already functioning in an environment of extremism and violence. This action of the Canadian government aggravates the situation and is incompatible with established diplomatic norms and practices,” Jaiswal added.
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