India fumes as Canada adds addendum to terror report

Wednesday, 10/04/2019

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TORONTO: The decision by the Canadian government to insert an addendum to qualify the reference to Sikh/Khalistani extremism in its 2018 public report on the terror threat to the country has left New Delhi exasperated.

The addendum to the “2018 Public Report on the Terrorism Threat to Canada” has attempted to describe its concern to those “who support violent means to establish an independent state within India”.

A senior Indian official described the move as “capitulation” by the Justin Trudeau government. The report was originally released in December last year. What has irked India even more is that the inclusion of this section for the first time in the annual report was also part of discussions when the CanadaIndia Joint Working Group (JWG) on counter-terrorism met in Ottawa last month.

India’s viewpoint has been that Canada should crack down on support to separatism in any form that is being promoted in its territory. There is concern that the public safety and emergency preparedness department that published the report and then amended it, had buckled before a concerted campaign undertaken over the past three-and-a-half months to delete the entire section or face political consequences in a year that will witness federal polls in the country.

A statement released by Canada’s minister of public safety and emergency preparedness Ralph Goodale had noted the change, as it read: “Public Safety Canada has posted an addendum to the report that acknowledges that this new language should be considered in lieu of the existing language in the report.”

The addendum is in line with demands from some groups that had argued that non-violent support for a separate state was not a threat to Canada. Further alterations may be in the offing in future reports, as Goodale also said that a review of the report continues.

“I met community members to ensure that there is a better understanding of how threats should be communicated without disrespecting any communities,” he said.

As this review continues, it is apparent that in outlining a threat, it must be clearly linked to an ideology rather than a community. The government should always carefully select terminology that focuses on the intent or ideology,” said Goodale.

He also noted the report “was based on a careful review of intelligence and information from the Canadian security and intelligence community, but the language used to describe some threats unintentionally maligned certain communities”.

This, he said “is contrary to the intended purpose of the report, and is not in line with the values of the government of Canada.”

The government was “committed to applying a bias-free approach to the terminology used to describe any threats inspired by ideology or groups,” he said.