Trudeau's claim was motivated by intelligence shared among Five Eyes allies: US representative
The US Ambassador to Canada, David Cohen, revealed that "shared intelligence among Five Eyes partners" inspired Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's claim of Indian complicity in terrorist Nijjar's death.
Ankush Pandey
According to a media report on Saturday, a top US diplomat has admitted for the first time that there was "shared intelligence among Five Eyes partners" that prompted Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's offensive allegation about Indian agents' involvement in the killing of a Khalistani extremist on Canadian soil.
According to CTV News Channel, Canada's 24-hour all-news network, there was "shared intelligence among Five Eyes partners" that informed Trudeau's public allegation of a "potential" link between the government of India and the murder of a Canadian citizen.
The 'Five Eyes' intelligence partnership is made up of the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, and New Zealand. It combines surveillance and signals intelligence (SIGINT).
Trudeau made an inflammatory claim on September 18 about the "potential" participation of Indian operatives in the June 18 assassination of Khalistani terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a Canadian citizen, in Surrey, British Columbia.
India has dismissed Trudeau's claims as "absurd" and "motivated."
In retaliation for Ottawa's expulsion of an Indian official over the affair, it also removed a senior Canadian ambassador.
Nijjar, 45, was declared a terrorist by India in 2020.
The CTV story is based on an exclusive interview that will run on Sunday on CTV's 'Question Period with Vassy Kapelos'.
According to CTV, Cohen admitted that "there was shared intelligence among Five Eyes partners that helped lead Canada to make the statements that the Prime Minister made."
"In the days since, as diplomatic tensions have risen — from Canada reassessing its presence in India to India suspending visa services for Canadians — there have been swirling questions about what intelligence is at the heart of this story, who was aware of it, and when," according to the CTV report.
While Cohen refused to comment on whether the intelligence informing the Canadian government's investigation was both human and surveillance-based, or whether it included signals intelligence from Indian diplomats, the US envoy to Canada did say that "there was shared intelligence among Five Eyes partners that helped lead Canada to making the statements that the Prime Minister made."
This is the first acknowledgment by a US government official concerning intelligence collaboration by Five Eyes allies with Canada, despite several unofficial and non-official claims to the contrary.
According to the CTV report, there were reports from the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) and The Associated Press that the intelligence Trudeau was referring to did not come solely from Canada, and that additional information was provided by an unspecified member of the intelligence-sharing alliance.
"He (Cohen) made this comment while denying a Washington Post report alleging that weeks before Trudeau's bombshell declaration, Ottawa asked its closest allies, including the US, to publicly condemn the murder, and that overture was rebuffed," CTV said.
"Very bluntly, and you know me well enough, I will say that — and you know me well enough — I'm not in the habit of commenting on private diplomatic conversations," Cohen was quoted as saying.
"Look, I'll say this was a matter of shared intelligence information," Cohen said, adding, "There was a lot of communication between Canada and the US about this, and I think that's as far as I'm comfortable going."
Cohen's remarks came as Secretary of State Antony Blinken stated that the US is "deeply concerned" about the claims leveled by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau against India and that Washington is "closely coordinating" with Ottawa on the matter and wants "accountability" in the case.
