Parag Jain Appointment as Head of R&AW Exposes the Dangers of Normalizing Relations with India

16 Harh, Nanakshahi 557 | June 30, 2025

Parag Jain Appointment as Head of R&AW Exposes the Dangers of Normalizing Relations with India

(Surrey, BC: 16 Harh, Nanakshahi 557 | June 30, 2025 CE) - Sikhs across the country have written letters to senior Canadian officials today, expressing grave concern and unequivocal condemnation following the Government of India's appointment of Parag Jain as the new Chief of India's foreign intelligence agency, Research & Analysis Wing (R&AW).

This appointment is a stark demonstration of India's continued defiance of international norms and the impunity granted upon its security officials. Rather than ensuring transparency or accountability for its documented acts of transnational repression and foreign interference, the Indian state has doubled down-promoting an individual credibly linked to gross human rights violations and intelligence operations targeting Sikhs in Canada.

Parag Jain is not an obscure figure. He served as a Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) and later as Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of Punjab Police during the peak of widespread atrocities against the Sikh community by Indian security forces. These included well-documented crimes such as enforced disappearances, extrajudicial killings, and torture acts which human rights groups have described as amounting to crimes against humanity.

More recently, Jain operated under diplomatic cover in Canada as one of two Indian intelligence officers identified in Canadian intelligence reports for directing a sustained campaign of foreign interference and repression. According to media reports on a 2019 briefing by the National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians (NICOP), CSIS observed a significant "increase in the volume" of Indian intelligence activity targeting Canada in 2016. These operations included recruiting agents to infiltrate, monitor, and co-opt Sikh diaspora communities, interfering in Canadian elections, and attempting to subvert Canadian institutions.

This is a shocking development that should raise alarm bells for Canadian officials while also demonstrating the pitfalls of normalizing relations with India without any shred of justice, accountability, or transparency for India's various crimes in Canada. The fact that India has elevated an individual known to have participated in and directed foreign interference operations against Canada to the highest position in its intelligence agency demonstrates India's continued refusal to account for its crimes.

At the time these activities were documented, CSIS sought to dismantle the intelligence network Jain helped operate. According to NSICOP however, those efforts were curtailed by Canadian officials concerned about "strategic interests" tied to the Prime Minister's then-upcoming trip to India. As a result, key nodes of the interference network remained untouched, and Indian interference continued unabated.

The appointment of Parag Jain as the chief of R&AW sends a clear message: far from retreating from its campaign of transnational repression, India is entrenching this policy choice at the highest levels. It is a direct affront to Canada's sovereignty and all those who have experienced firsthand the violence and surveillance of India's intelligence apparatus. In this context, Prime Minister Carney's decision to restore diplomatic relations with India and appoint a new High Commissioner will have grave consequences from Canada and Canadians. It communicates to Canadians that foreign governments can carry out violent operations on Canadian soil, target minority communities with impunity, and still be treated as legitimate partners in trade and diplomacy.

Sikhs across Canada call on the Government of Canada to take the following immediate actions:

1. Publicly condemn the appointment of Parag Jain as R&AW Chief and reaffirm Canada's commitment to holding officials accountable for their documented interference, violence, and assassination in Canada.
2. Commit to establishing an independent public inquiry on Indian transnational repression and other clandestine activities at the earliest possible time to review the circumstances leading to Bhai Hardeep Singh's assassination and any other coercive or violent activity linked to the agents of the Government of India.
3. Immediately suspend all security and intelligence agreements with India that can be misused to target political dissidents in Canada.

This includes any intelligence sharing, consultation, or any other forms of security and intelligence cooperation that may violence Canada's Charter of Rights and Freedoms and international human rights obligations.

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Moninder Singh

Spokesperson

Sikh Federation & British Columbia Gurdwaras

Council

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Amarjit Singh Mann

Spokesperson

Ontario Gurdwaras Committee

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Santokh Singh Khela

Spokesperson

Quebec Sikh Council