New Delhi:
India on Sunday evening described as “fake” and “completely fabricated” a media report claiming that New Delhi had issued a “secret memo” in April to take “concrete” action against certain Sikh separatists, including Hardeep Singh Nijjar.
Foreign Ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said the report is part of a “sustained disinformation campaign” against India and that the outlet that released it is known for promoting “fake stories” peddled by Pakistani intelligence. Scattered.
Online American media outlet The Intercept released the report.
“We strongly maintain that such reports are fake and completely fabricated. There is no such memo,” Mr Bagchi said.
“This is part of an ongoing disinformation campaign against India. The channel in question is known for spreading false stories peddled by Pakistani intelligence. The authors' reports confirm this connection,” he said.
“Those who amplify such fake news only do so at the expense of their own credibility,” he said in response to media questions about the report.
In September, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau accused “potential” involvement of Indian agents in the killing of Nijjar on Canadian soil on June 18.
India strongly rejected the allegations, calling them “absurd”.
In its report, The Intercept claimed that the Indian government had issued instructions for a “crackdown” on certain Sikh entities in Western countries.
It further alleged that the secret memorandum issued by the Ministry of External Affairs in April lists a number of “Sikh dissidents under investigation by the Indian intelligence agencies, including Canadian national Hardeep Singh Nijjar”.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)