Canada has banned Australia Today outlets hours after Jaishankar’s press conference with counterpart Penny Wong: MEA – Times of India

NEW DELHI: The Ministry of External Affairs said on Thursday that Canada has banned the social media handles and pages of “a major diaspora outlet” Australia Today, hours after it aired the press conference of S Jaishankar and his counterpart Penny Wong. The press witnessed the Foreign Minister repeating India’s position on Canada of ‘making accusations without any specific evidence’.
Calling it a “hypocrisy on Canada’s part towards freedom of expression”, MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said Jaishankar also raised the issue of “political space” being given to “anti-India elements” in Canada. This comes amid videos of an attack on the Hindu temple in Brampton that surfaced, drawing condemnation from Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Canadian counterpart Justin Trudeau.
“We understand that the social media pages of this particular channel, which is a major diaspora channel, have been blocked and are not available to viewers in Canada. This happened just an hour or several hours after this particular channel carried the press conference. from EAM Dr. S. Jaishankar with Penny Wong,” Jaiswal said.
“I will say that these are actions that once again highlight Canada’s hypocrisy regarding freedom of expression,” he added.
He then listed three points made by Jaishankar to the media during the press conference.
“One was that Canada made accusations and a pattern has developed without any specific evidence. The second thing he highlighted was the surveillance of Indian diplomats in Canada, which he called unacceptable. The third thing he emphasized was the political space given in Canada against anti-Indian elements. So you can draw your conclusions from that, why the Australia Today channel was blocked by Canada,” he said.
Meanwhile, Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong had also raised the issue of Canada’s allegations against Indian diplomats of being involved in violent attacks on Sikh leaders.
“We have clearly expressed our concerns about the allegations being investigated. We have said that we respect Canadian justice,” Wong had said at a press conference with Jaishankar.
“We convey our views to India as you would expect from us and we have a principled stand on issues like the rule of law and the independence of the judiciary and also, frankly, the sovereignty of all countries,” she added to. .