NEW DELHI: Ministry of external affairs on Thursday said that Canada banned the social media handles and pages of "an important diaspora outlet" Australia Today, hours after it aired the press conference of S Jaishankar and his counterpart Penny Wong. The presser witnessed the foreign minister reiterating India's stance on Canada of "making allegations without any specific evidence."
Calling it a "hypocrisy of Canada towards freedom of speech," the MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said that Jaishankar also raised the issue of "political space" being given to "anti-India elements" in Canada. This comes amidst videos of attack on Hindu temple in Brampton surfaced drawing condemnation from PM Narendra Modi and his Canadian counterpart Justin Trudeau.
"We understand that the social media handles, pages of this particular outlet, which is an important diaspora outlet, has been blocked and are not available for viewers in Canada. This happened just an hour or few hours after this particular handle carried the press conference of EAM Dr S Jaishankar with Penny Wong," Jaiswal said.
"I will say that these are actions which yet again highlight the hypocrisy of Canada towards freedom of speech," he added.
He went on to list out three points made by Jaishankar on the media outlet during the press conference.
"One was Canada making allegations and a pattern has developed without any specific evidence. The second thing he highlighted was surveillance of Indian diplomats happening in Canada, which he termed as unacceptable. The third thing which he highlighted was the political space which has been given in Canada to anti-India elements. So you can draw your conclusions from that, why Australia Today channel was blocked by Canada," he said.
Meanwhile, Australian foreign minister Penny Wong had also raised the issue of Canada's allegations on Indian diplomats of being involved in violent attacks against Sikh leaders.
“We’ve made clear our concerns about the allegations under investigation. We’ve said that we respect Canada’s judicial process,” Wong had said at a news conference with Jaishankar.
“We convey our views to India as you would expect us to do and we have a principled position in relation to matters such as the rule of law and the independence of the judiciary and also, frankly, the sovereignty of all countries,” she added.
Calling it a "hypocrisy of Canada towards freedom of speech," the MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said that Jaishankar also raised the issue of "political space" being given to "anti-India elements" in Canada. This comes amidst videos of attack on Hindu temple in Brampton surfaced drawing condemnation from PM Narendra Modi and his Canadian counterpart Justin Trudeau.
"We understand that the social media handles, pages of this particular outlet, which is an important diaspora outlet, has been blocked and are not available for viewers in Canada. This happened just an hour or few hours after this particular handle carried the press conference of EAM Dr S Jaishankar with Penny Wong," Jaiswal said.
"I will say that these are actions which yet again highlight the hypocrisy of Canada towards freedom of speech," he added.
He went on to list out three points made by Jaishankar on the media outlet during the press conference.
"One was Canada making allegations and a pattern has developed without any specific evidence. The second thing he highlighted was surveillance of Indian diplomats happening in Canada, which he termed as unacceptable. The third thing which he highlighted was the political space which has been given in Canada to anti-India elements. So you can draw your conclusions from that, why Australia Today channel was blocked by Canada," he said.
Meanwhile, Australian foreign minister Penny Wong had also raised the issue of Canada's allegations on Indian diplomats of being involved in violent attacks against Sikh leaders.
“We’ve made clear our concerns about the allegations under investigation. We’ve said that we respect Canada’s judicial process,” Wong had said at a news conference with Jaishankar.
“We convey our views to India as you would expect us to do and we have a principled position in relation to matters such as the rule of law and the independence of the judiciary and also, frankly, the sovereignty of all countries,” she added.
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