India slams Canada’s ‘hypocrisy’ on freedom of expression | India News

MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal (Photo: PTI)

NEW DELHI: India cried Canada for what it described as Ottawa’s “hypocrisy” on freedom of expression in blocking an Australia-based publication – Australia Today – that highlighted Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar’s comments against Canada in Canberra this week. The government also said Canada has not provided security for the consular camps that have housed Indian missions in the country despite the increasing threat to Indian officials, leading to the cancellation of some camps.
On its X account, Australia Today says it brings news and views from Australia, focusing on multicultural communities and the Indian subcontinent. MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said in a media briefing on Thursday that social media handles and pages of this particular publication, which he described as an important diaspora channel, had been blocked and were no longer available to viewers in Canada.
Events in Ottawa focused on safety concerns
“This happened just a few hours after this outlet held a press conference by the Foreign Minister together with his counterpart Penny Wong. The outlet also published several articles about the foreign minister’s visit, as well as an interview with him. , we were surprised. It seems strange to us,” he said.

“I will say these are actions that once again highlight Canada’s hypocrisy on freedom of expression,” the official added. During a joint press conference with Wong, Jaishankar had accused Canada of developing a pattern of making allegations without backing them up with any evidence. He also said the surveillance of Indian diplomats is unacceptable, while reiterating India’s position that Canada provides political space to extremists.
“So you can draw your own conclusion as to why Australia Today was blocked,” Jaiswal said. The official also said threats against Indian diplomats in Canada had increased and that Ottawa had failed to provide security to Indian consular camps.
“Over the past year or even longer, we have seen the kind of things we have seen… attacking Indian diplomats, threatening, intimidating and harassing Indian diplomats,” he said. “The threats to Indian diplomats in Canada have increased. They have been put under surveillance, which is unacceptable. We had also raised the matter very strongly with the Canadian side,” he said in response to media queries.