India slams 'hypocrite' Canada for blocking Australian media outlet after Jaishankar's presser (WATCH)

By Sunita Iyer | First Published Nov 7, 2024, 6:29 PM IST

India on Thursday criticised Canada for blocking the Australian media outlet Australia Today, hours after it aired a press conference featuring External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar and his Australian counterpart Penny Wong. External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal called Canada's action a hypocritical stance on freedom of speech.

"We understand that the social media handles, pages of this particular outlet, which are important diaspora outlets, have been blocked and are not available for viewers in Canada. This happened just an hour or few hours after this particular handle carried the press conference of EAM Dr S Jaishankar with Penny Wong," Jaiswal said in response to a question at the weekly media briefing.

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"We were surprised. It looks strange to us. But nonetheless, what I say is that these are actions which yet again highlight the hypocrisy of Canada towards freedom of speech," the external affairs ministry spokesman added.

'Highlights hypocrisy': Amid the diplomatic row between India and Canada, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said that Ottawa had banned Australia Today for carrying an interview of External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar with Australian Foreign Affairs minister Penny Wong pic.twitter.com/6fMxX5HHvE

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He added that during his media interactions in Australia, Jaishankar addressed the allegations made by Canada against India but pointed out that Canada had failed to provide any specific evidence to support those claims.

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"You would have seen that the External Affairs Minister, in his media engagements, spoke about three things. One was Canada making allegations and a pattern has developed without any specific evidence," he said.

The spokesperson also highlighted the surveillance of Indian diplomats in Canada, calling it unacceptable.

"The third thing which he highlighted was the political space which has been given in Canada to anti-India elements. So you can draw your conclusions from that, why the Australia Today channel was blocked by Canada," Jaiswal said.

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