NEW DELHI: The ministry of external affairs on Friday said that the Canadian government is responsible for providing security to the Indian consulate after it received a threat from a US-based Khalistani group.”It is the responsibility of the Canadian government, the host government, to provide security,” MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said while addressing a weekly media briefing.”As and when there is a concern, we take it up with the concerned side. NSA of Canada held talks with our NSA. This was part of the regular bilateral security consultations that happen between the countries,” he added.MEA’s reaction came days after the Khalistani group threatened to “siege” the Indian Consulate in Vancouver, Canada, after New Delhi and Ottawa have resumed diplomatic ties.The separatist outfit announced it would take over the consulate on Thursday, September 18, and urged Indo-Canadians to stay away from the premises.The group also released a poster with the image of the new Indian high commissioner, Dinish Patnaik, showing a target on his face.The SFJ, in its statement, referred to then Canadian PM Justin Trudeau’s statement in the Canadian Parliament on 18 September 2023, when he said that the alleged role of Indian agents in the killing of NIA-designated terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar was under investigation. The separatist group claimed that “two years on, Indian Consulates continue to run a spy network and surveillance targeting Khalistan Referendum campaigners.”It further claimed that the threat was “so grave” that the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) had to place Inderjeet Singh Gosal, who took over the Khalistan Referendum campaign after Nijjar’s death, under “witness protection.”SFJ said its proposed “siege” of the Indian Consulate in Vancouver would be a way to demand “accountability” for what it described as “espionage and intimidation on Canadian soil.Nijjar was shot dead outside a gurdwara on June 18, 2023. India rejected Trudeau’s claims, calling them “absurd” and “motivated,” and accused Canada of letting extremist and anti-India activities grow unchecked.
