ANKARA

Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong said on Tuesday that she had discussed with her Indian counterpart allegations from Canada that India was targeting Sikh activists on its territory.

Wong, who briefed the media after his meeting with New Delhi’s top diplomat S. Jaishankar at the Parliament House in Canberra, said that he discussed the allegations.

New Delhi had previously rejected Ottawa’s claim that Indian Home Affairs Minister Amit Shah had ordered the targeting of Sikh activists living in Canada.

In response to a question, Wong said his message to the Sikh community was that “whoever they are in our country, they have the right to be safe and respected; that is the essence of our multicultural democracy.” By the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs.

“We have made clear our concerns about the allegations that are being investigated,” he said, adding that Canberra respects Canada’s judicial process.

“As you expect from us, we are conveying our views to India. “We also have a principled position on issues such as the rule of law, the independence of the judiciary and, frankly, the sovereignty of all countries,” he said.

Australia has close intelligence-sharing relations with Canada as a member of the Five Eyes alliance, which also includes the United States, the United Kingdom and New Zealand.

Jaishankar, on the other hand, accused Canada of developing a pattern of making allegations “without providing details”.

He said Canada put Indian diplomats under surveillance and this was “unacceptable”.

He claimed that extremist voices are given “political space” in Canada.

“So we believe in freedom, but we also believe that freedom should not be abused, and have we fully talked about that?” he added.

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