India slams Canada for blocking Australian outlet that interviewed Jaishankar, says it highlights Ottawa's 'hypocrisy'

Criticising the move, India said it highlights the hypocrisy of Canada towards freedom of speech and expression.

Jaishankar met Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese during his visit to Sydney and co-chaired the 15th Foreign Ministers' Framework Dialogue with Wong.

On being asked about the social media handles of Australia Today being blocked in Canada, Ministry of External Affairs Spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal during his weekly media briefing on Thursday said: "We understand that social media handles and pages of this outlet, which is an important diaspora outlet, have been blocked and are not available for viewers in Canada. This happened a few hours after this particular handle carried the press conference of the External Affairs Minister with Penny Wong."

"We were surprised. It looks strange to us. Nonetheless, these are actions that yet again highlight the hypocrisy of Canada towards freedom of speech. In his media interactions, the External Affairs Minister spoke about three things: a pattern of Canada making allegations without evidence, the surveillance of Indian diplomats - which he termed unacceptable - and the political space being given in Canada to anti-India elements. So you can draw your conclusions from that on why the Australia Today channel was blocked."

Last week, the Canadian government informed some Indian consular officials that they have been under audio and video surveillance.

Calling the action a "flagrant violation" of diplomatic conventions, India said Canada cannot cite technicalities to justify its harassment and intimidation.

It has also lodged a protest with the Canadian government over the issue.

India-Canada standoff over Khalistani row

A recent standoff between New Delhi and Ottawa was triggered after Canada Prime Minister Justin Trudeau accused Indian officials of being involved in the killing of Khalistani terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar.

India had expelled six Canadian diplomats and asked them to leave the country last month after Ottawa said it was investigating the Indian ambassador and other diplomats as "persons of interest" in connection with the killing of a Sikh separatist leader last year.

In a tit-for-tat move, Canada too asked six Indian diplomats to leave the country alleging that its police reportedly got hold of evidence that they claimed to be a part of an Indian government "campaign of violence".

The Indian government had also decided to withdraw its High Commissioner in Canada after Ottawa's accusations which the Modi government called an act of "vote bank politics".