Canada blocked Australian media for broadcasting Jaishankar's presser: MEA

Jaiswal said Jaishankar, in his media interactions in Australia, had spoken about the allegations levelled against India by Canada without sharing any specific evidence

India on Thursday said Canada blocked an Australian media outlet hours after it broadcast the press conference of External Affairs Minister (EAM) S Jaishankar and his Australian counterpart Penny Wong.

External Affairs Ministry spokesman Randhir Jaiswal said the Canadian action of blocking the social media handles and certain pages of Australia Today smacked of hypocrisy towards freedom of speech.

"We understand that the social media handles, pages of this particular outlet, which are important diaspora outlets, have been blocked and are not available for viewers in Canada. This happened just an hour or few hours after this particular handle carried the press conference of EAM Dr S Jaishankar with Penny Wong," Jaiswal said in response to a question at the weekly media briefing.

"We were surprised. It looks strange to us. But nonetheless, what I say is that these are actions which yet again highlight the hypocrisy of Canada towards freedom of speech," the external affairs ministry spokesman said.

He said Jaishankar, in his media interactions in Australia, had spoken about the allegations levelled against India by Canada without sharing any specific evidence.

"You would have seen that the External Affairs Minister, in his media engagements, spoke about three things. One was Canada making allegations and a pattern has developed without any specific evidence," he said.

Also, Jaiswal has strongly condemned the surveillance of Indian diplomats in Canada, calling it "totally unacceptable."

 

While adressing the briefing on Thursday, Jaiswal highlighted the increased threats against Indian diplomats in Canada, citing instances of harassment, intimidation, and surveillance.

 

"Indian diplomats are being put under surveillance, which is totally unacceptable. EAM also has spoken about it. We had also taken up the matter very strongly with the Canadian side on it," said Jaiswal.

 

"Over the last year or even more, the kind of things that we have seen attacking Indian diplomats, threatening, intimidating, harassing Indian diplomats...Yes, the threats have increased," he added.