B.C. premier downplays RCMP report linking Indian government to Bishnoi gang
Global News
David Eby was responding to a Global News report during his trade mission to India
B.C.’s premier has downplayed concerns raised in an RCMP report about the Indian government’s suspected ties to a gang blamed for extortion and murder in Canada.
During a trade mission to India, David Eby responded to questions about an RCMP document that said the Bishnoi gang was “acting on behalf of the Indian government.”
Asked about the newly-released report obtained by Global News, Eby said it was a “summary of publicly available news reports from more than a year ago.”
“This was not an RCMP intelligence report,” he said from Mumbai on Wednesday. His office did not respond to follow-up questions from Global News.
But a former intelligence analyst who reviewed the document disagreed with Eby’s characterization, and a Canadian Sikh organization called the premier’s statement “misleading and dangerous.”
“The RCMP and senior Canadian officials have publicly stated that they possess evidence linking the Bishnoi gang to the government of India,” the World Sikh Organization of Canada said.
“This isn’t based on a compilation of newspaper articles; it is a national security assessment. Dismissing it echoes Indian government talking points, trivializes transnational repression, and puts British Columbians at risk.”
Eby has come under fire from Canadian Sikh groups and the Conservative opposition for embarking on an Indian trade mission amid police allegations linking the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to violence in Canada.
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