YouTube has blocked a story published by Canadian government-funded broadcaster CBC on Khalistani extremist Hardeep Singh Nijjar’s killing at the request of the Indian government.
According to the CBC, ‘The Fifth Estate’ story on Nijjar’s June 18, 2023 murder in the parking lot of a Surrey Gurudwara has been blocked on YouTube for viewers in India after the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology asked for the same.
The CBC claimed that the Indian government has asked X, formerly Twitter, to block access to the Nijjar story.
“Indian law obligates X to withhold access to this content in India; however, the content remains available elsewhere,” CBC quoted ‘X’ as saying.
Notebly, the so called news story also features Khalistani terrorist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, who is wanted in India in several cases.
The story uploaded on YouTube also included a video purportedly showing the Khalistani extremist being gunned down by two assailants.
It shows Nijjar leaving the parking lot of the Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara in Surrey, British Columbia. As Nijjar approached the exit, another car stopped in front of him and two men ran and shot him before fleeing the scene.
Canada has accused Indian government agents of a role in Nijjar’s killing, a charge New Delhi vehemently rejects.
The issue became a major flashpoint in the bilateral relations between India and Canada last year when the latter’s prime minister Justin Trudeau openly accused Indian government agents of assassinating a “Canadian citizen on Canadian soil”.
In response, New Delhi asked Ottawa to provide evidence but received none so far. Following the accusations, India suspended visa services for Canadian nationals and ordered some of the country’s diplomats to leave.