Canadian PM Justin Trudeau dropped a bombshell when he, on Tuesday, accused India of being involved in the killing of Sikh dissident and Khalistani leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a charge that was backed by the Five Eyes intelligence alliance.
The group, however, reportedly rejected Canada's request to jointly denounce Nijjar's murder.
What is the Five Eyes Alliance?
The Five Eyes Alliance is an intelligence alliance that includes Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States. These countries are parties to the multilateral USUSA Agreement, which is a treaty focused on joint cooperation in signals intelligence. Informally, the Five Eyes is often used to refer to groups of these countries' intelligence agencies.
From Australia, the Australian Secret Intelligence Service (ASIS) provides human intelligence while Australian Signals Directorate (ASD) and Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) provide security intelligence. Australian Geospatial-Intelligence Organisation (AGO) provides geo intelligence and Defence Intelligence Organisation (DIO) is in charge of defence intelligence.
From Canada, Canadian Forces Intelligence Command (CFINTCOM) helps out with defence, geo, and human intelligence, while Communications Security Establishment (CSE) assists with signal intelligence. Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) helps with human and security intelligence while Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) helps with security intelligence.
New Zealand's Directorate of Defence Intelligence and Security (DDIS), Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB), and New Zealand Security Intelligence Service (NZSIS) are involved in supporting with defence intelligence, signal intelligence, and human and security intelligence respectively.
From the United Kingdom, the Defence Intelligence (DI) helps with defence intelligence, while Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) provides aid in signal intelligence, and MI5 and MI6 and SIS help with security and human intelligence respectively.
US agencies in the mix are the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) and the National Security Agency (NSA) which helps with human intelligence, defence intelligence, security intelligence, geo intelligence, and signal intelligence in that order.
What Five Eyes said about Trudeau's India remark
A senior US State Department official said they have been in close contact with their Canadian counterparts about the allegations involving the Indian government and urged the nation to cooperate with the probe.
The UK government has said the allegations are "serious" but it won't impact the ongoing trade negotiations with India.
Australia's Foreign Minister noted that the investigations are under way and these are "concerning reports". The official stated that Australia is monitoring the developments along with the partner nations and will continue doing so.
Trudeau's accusations led to a frostier relation between India and Canada with diplomats being expelled in a tit-for-tat move. In 2022, India was Canada's 10th largest two-way merchandise trading partner, but at present trade talks are paused and a planned trade mission to the world's largest democracy stands cancelled.
Nijjar, the chief of the banned Khalistan Tiger Force (KTF), was shot dead by unidentified gunmen outside a Surrey gurudwara in British Columbia, the western Canadian province, on June 18.