I wonder what their angle is? What is the motivation for India spying on Australia?
@Optimist
Surveillance of radical elements within the diaspora has been a longstanding mission, made somewhat more important over the last few years as opposition to the Farm Law reforms enabled a lot of extremists to mobilize & rally others to their cause.
Surveillance of individuals believed to be involved in recruitment, funding or other forms of support for radical outfits often leads to discovery of foreign intelligence operatives (of the host country, or third parties) who may be in contact with these individuals.
In such cases, it's up to the Indian intel agencies to dig further, to verify whether such contact is merely a result of the host nation keeping tabs on potential problem individuals, or if these individuals are being actively handled/directed by the host nation's agencies (or by those of third countries like ISI or MSS) to interfere in Indian electoral processes or destabilize the security situation.
That was the case with the likes of Amritpal Singh, believed to have been contacted by the ISI in the UAE, and arrested in India in 2022.
en.m.wikipedia.org
Often, discovery of intelligence officers believed to be in contact with suspected radicals leads to surveillance of the officers themselves, their roles, and other programs (military/intel) that they might be involved in, in order to paint a picture of who exactly they are.
Unlike the Five Eyes agreement, there are no set rules of engagement or intelligence sharing regarding these matters between India & the FVEY. So a degree of 'Trust, but Verify' is to be expected.
When such operations are compromised, a level of mistrust & animosity from the host country is to be expected, and warranted I'd say. But if such surveillance isn't conducted, it could potentially lead to outcomes that are far worse. Especially as extremism within certain minorities is often ignored by the powers that be in the likes of Canada due to domestic political equations. That lesson was also learnt the hard way:
en.m.wikipedia.org
I wish the FVEY would come around to appreciate India's concerns regarding these elements. But until a formal agreement is in place, I doubt there's any alternative but continued surveillance...and, if & when necessary, kinetic action in the face of a perceived immediate threat, which I believe was what we saw with Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Canada and almost saw with Gurpatwant Pannun in the US.
www.abc.net.au
