Toronto: The social media handle of a prominent Indo-Canadian journalist Sameer Kaushal was restored 72 hours after the platform X suspended it, following a post featuring an interview with a former pro-Khalistan extremist who alleged that Pakistan’s spy agency had multiple agents in Canada and were covertly working with separatists targeting India.
Those allegations were voiced by Jaswal Atwal, who was convicted in Canada for the attempted murder of visiting Punjab Minister Malkiat Singh Sidhu in Vancouver Island in 1986. He was interviewed by Kaushal, the founder-editor of the digital outlet News Derby.
Hours later Kaushal received a notice from X that his personal account, where he had posted the video of the interview, had been suspended for violating its “rules against authenticity”.
“As an independent journalist, I rely on X as a vital platform for exercising freedom of speech and for delivering factual, daring journalism to the community. There is a possibility that some powerful forces may have targeted my account due to my commitment to reporting the truth,” Kaushal said in a statement.
“This sudden suspension has come as a complete surprise and is deeply concerning, as my account serves as a significant platform for communication, information sharing, and engagement with my community,” he added.
The handle was finally restored on Monday.
Atwal has been a controversial character who was once a hardcore supporter of Khalistan but turned against separatism and was given visas to travel to India as part of the amnesty launched by the Government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2015.
Atwal was famously present at a reception hosted by the Canadian government in Mumbai for then Prime Minister Justin Trudeau during his visit to India in February 2018, a development which caused Ottawa serious embarrassment. Canada later blamed “rogue elements” in the Indian government for subverting the visit, without explaining how they managed to plant Atwal at an invite-only event organised by the Canadian government.
In its annual report to parliament for 2024, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) noted, “Pakistan conducts foreign interference against Canada to promote political, security and economic stability in Pakistan and to counter India’s growing global influence. Canada is an attractive foreign interference target due to its significant South Asian community and presence of groups who may be utilised as pro- Pakistan or anti-India proxies.”
It added per its assessment “Pakistan will continue to target various levels of government as well as ethnic, cultural and religious communities, specifically in relation to electoral nomination processes. They may also target media.”
Testifying before the foreign interference commission in October last year, senior Canadian intelligence official Vanessa Lloyd said Pakistan was “trying to reduce the influence of India”.
She also said while foreign interference usually related to suppression of voices, it “may also have the opposite effect in terms of amplifying other voices, and in this particular case, influence of Pakistan is directly related to support of Khalistani extremism”.
