‘No reason to dispute’ Canada’s claim against India: Australian intel chief

Nearly a month after Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau levelled allegations of a potential link between.

Indian government agents and the death of terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar, Australia’s domestic intelligence chief has said he has “no reason to dispute” Canada’s claims.

The remarks by Mike Burgess, Director of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO), in California, on the sidelines of a historic public gathering of Five Eyes intelligence partners, came after he was asked for his assessment of Canada’s allegations.

India had rejected the accusations as “absurd” and expelled a senior Canadian diplomat in response. “No reason to dispute what the Canadian government has said in this matter,” ABC News quoted Burgess as saying.

“There’s no doubt any allegation of any country being accused of carrying out an execution of a citizen in that country, it’s a serious allegation, and something that we don’t do and something that nations should not do,” he added.

The report also quoted a source and stated Burgess was briefed on the matter before last month’s G20 summit in New Delhi.

Further, upon being asked if Australia could be the next target for Indian agents, Burgess said, “Whether or not it will happen here, I wouldn’t publicly speculate, I don’t think that’s appropriate.”

“I can assure you that when we find governments interfering in our country, or planning to interfere in our country, we will deal with them effectively,” Burgess was heard saying in a video of the event, shared by ABC News.

Burgess was also asked if he thought the extremists in Australia had anything to fear from the Indian government, to which he said, “This is something you should ask them.”

“For us, that plays out in society, you see protests, counter-protests, and sometimes there’s communal violence or spontaneous violence,” he said.

“That’s not a nation-state seeking to interfere and covertly or deceptively harm and intimidate people. Of course, if we see that, we will act.”