Global Courant
Allegations linking India to the killing of Canada’s Sikh leader are “not consistent” with New Delhi’s policies, a top diplomat says.
India’s foreign minister has confirmed that he discussed his country’s row with Canada over the killing of a Canadian Sikh leader with top US government officials during a visit to Washington, DC this week.
Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said on Friday he raised India’s concerns about followers of the Sikh separatist movement in Canada during talks a day earlier with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on September 18 that his government was investigating “credible allegations of a possible link” between Indian government agents and the June killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a prominent Sikh leader in Western Canada.
“They (Blinken and Sullivan) clearly shared the American views and assessments on this whole situation and I explained to them … what concerns I had,” Jaishankar said Friday morning at an event at the Hudson Institute, a conservative American think tank.
“Hopefully we both came out of those meetings better informed.”
New Delhi has consistently rejected Ottawa’s allegations of involvement in the terrorist act The murder of Nijjarcalling them “absurd” and politically motivated.
That denial was echoed Friday by Jaishankar, who said the Indian government’s official response to Trudeau, “both privately and publicly,” was “that what he claimed was not in line with our policies.”
Jaishankar also said the US and India viewed Canada differently, accusing Ottawa of harboring what he called “terrorists” and organized crime, referring to Sikh separatists who New Delhi views as a security threat.
“It’s a very toxic combination of problems and people who have found an operating space there,” he said.
The dispute between Canada and India further escalated last week when the two countries expelled diplomats from each other’s respective countries, and New Delhi suspended visa services in Canada over alleged threats against consular staff.
Jaishankar said on Friday that Indian diplomats in Canada were “unsafe to go to the embassy or consulates”.
Canada has also reported threats against its diplomats in India on social media.
Trudeau said last week that his country would defend its citizens and its “rules-based system” and called on India to cooperate with Canada’s investigation into the killing.
But Ottawa has not released any specific evidence to support allegations of India’s involvement in Nijjar’s killing.
Jaishankar reiterated Friday that India is open to exploring “anything relevant and specific” that Canada can put forward.
Washington, for its part, previously expressed support for the Canadian investigation, with Sullivan saying the feud with India has not caused friction between the US and Canada.
“I firmly reject the idea that there is a wedge between the U.S. and Canada,” Sullivan said last week. “We are deeply concerned about the allegations and would like to see this investigation continue and the perpetrators held accountable.”
The US, perhaps Canada’s closest ally, has increasingly deepened ties with India – which it sees as a counterweight to China in the Asia-Pacific region – amid Washington’s growing competition with Beijing.
A US State Department readout describing the meeting between Jaishankar and Blinken on Thursday made no mention of Canada or Nijjar’s killing.
Instead, the State Department applauded a US-funded project to create a trade corridor from India to Europe, including by rail through Saudi Arabia and Israel, which President Joe Biden has hailed as a major achievement .
But India has faced criticism from progressives in the US Congress over its human rights record under Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
“I am deeply concerned by the allegations that Canadian citizen Hardeep Singh Nijjar was murdered by the Indian government, especially in light of increasing threats to the Sikh community,” Democratic Congresswoman Barbara Lee said in a social media post on Thursday.
“I support a full investigation to hold the perpetrators accountable and bring justice to his family.”
