Global Courant
WASHINGTON – US Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke to his Indian counterpart on Thursday about the killing of a Sikh separatist advocate in Canada and urged India to fully cooperate with Canada’s investigation into the killing, a spokesman said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar confirmed on Friday that he had spoken to Blinken and US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan about Canadian allegations about New Delhi’s possible involvement in the killing of a Sikh separatist leader in Canada in June.
“They shared American views and assessments on this whole situation and I explained to them in detail… a summary of the concerns I had,” Jaishankar said at an event organized by the Hudson Institute in Washington.
Ties between India and Canada have become seriously strained after Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told Parliament earlier this month that Canada suspected Indian government agents were involved in the killing of Sikh separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar.
The incident has put the United States in an awkward position diplomatically, as Canada is a neighbor and formal ally and Washington has focused intensely on developing relations with India as a key partner in its efforts to roll back growing Chinese influence in Indo-Pacific. to push. -Pacific region.
An official State Department readout of the Blinken-Jaishankar meeting issued on Thursday made no mention of the Nijjar issue, but an unnamed US official subsequently confirmed late on Thursday that it had been raised during the meeting and that Blinken had urged India to cooperate with the investigation.
On Friday, a State Department spokesperson said that during their meeting the two discussed “a range of issues affecting the important, strategic and consequential relationship between the United States and India” and that key issues were noted in the official reading.
“Secretary Blinken also took the opportunity to urge India to fully cooperate with the ongoing Canadian investigation,” the spokesperson added.
Trudeau said in Quebec on Thursday that he was confident Blinken would raise the issue with Jaishankar.
Nijjar was a Canadian citizen, but India had declared him a ‘terrorist’. He supported the cause of Khalistan, or an independent homeland for Sikhs to be carved out of India.
Traditional Canadian allies, including the United States, appear to be approaching the matter cautiously and analysts have said this is partly because Washington and other major players see India as an important counterbalance to China.
Jaishankar said Tuesday that New Delhi had told Canada it was open to investigating “specific” or “relevant” information the country provided about the killing.
Trudeau, who has yet to publicly share any evidence, said last week that he shared the “credible allegations” with India “many weeks ago.”
Blinken and Sullivan said last week that Washington was “deeply concerned” by Trudeau’s allegations.
The US ambassador to Canada told Canadian television that some information about the case had been gathered by the Five Eyes intelligence alliance, which groups the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Britain. REUTERS
