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Jean said this is what prompted him to call a handful of journalists in Ottawa the next day to offer an alternative to what he suggested was “co-ordinated misinformation” – that the RCMP, CSIS and the Canadian High Commission were aware of Atwal’s invitations to the events but did not act to rescind them.

Photo by Ben Nelms for National Post

“I never raised a conspiracy theory,” he said. “What I said is that there was co-ordinated efforts to try to misinform and I said these were either private people – it was definitely not the government of India, and if it was people from India, they were acting in a rogue way.”

Atwal was a one-time member of the International Sikh Youth Federation – now listed as a terrorist entity by Ottawa – who was convicted in 1987 of trying to kill a Punjab cabinet minister vacationing in B.C.

However, he is no longer considered a terrorist threat by Canada or India.

The issue for the security services was more that Atwal’s presence was an embarrassment. “It was a faux pas. It should not have happened,” Jean told the committee.

He offered a much less fulsome account than the one he gave me on February 22nd, when he alleged Atwal’s presence in India “was not an accident”.

Atwal’s own social media account shows he visited the Indian External Affairs department in New Delhi last year

He said Atwal had developed links with the Indian government, as his views on Sikh separatism had evolved. “They no longer see him as the enemy,” Jean said at the time, pointing out he had been taken off a travel blacklist, allowing him to visit India twice in 2017.

Jean said Atwal met with Indian diplomats from the consulate in Vancouver. Atwal’s own social media account shows he visited the Indian External Affairs department in New Delhi last year.