US Claims it has Made its Stand “Clear” on India-Canada Diplomatic Row
NEW DELHI, Sept 28: On the eve of foreign ministers’ level meeting between India and the United States in Washington, the US claimed that it had made its stand clear to India about the current diplomatic row over the alleged killing of the Khalistani terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a Canadian citizen, in June.
The external affairs minister S Jaishankar is scheduled to meet the US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Washington on Sunday amid the diplomatic row with Canada.
Mr Jaishankar and Mr Blinken met on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) session in New York last week. However, the India – Canada diplomatic crisis was not part of the discussions, the US State Department said.
The US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller has declined to comment on the specific topics that will be discussed during the upcoming meeting between the two leaders. However, he assured that the US has urged India to cooperate with Canada’s investigation into Nijjar’s killing. “I don’t want to preview the conversations he (Blinken) will have in that meeting with Mr Jaishankar, but as we have made clear, we have raised this; we have engaged with our Indian counterparts on this and encouraged them to cooperate with the Canadian investigation, and we continue to encourage them to cooperate,” Mr Miller said.
Speaking at the Council for Foreign Relations in New York on Tuesday, Mr Jaishankar had reiterated India’s stance on the allegations levelled by Canada, emphasising that India does not engage in such acts as a matter of policy and principle.
Mr Blinken had said the US was deeply concerned about the Canadian PM’s allegations. He added that the US wanted to see “accountability” and that it was important for the investigation to run its course and lead to a result.
India has categorically rejected Canada’s allegations, calling them “baseless.” Mr Jaishankar has assured Canada that India would investigate the matter if it was provided with specific information about Nijjar’s killing. “We told the Canadians that this is not the government of India’s policy. Secondly, we said if you have something specific and if you have something relevant, let us know. We are open to looking at it…The picture is not complete without the context in a way,” he said.
On Tuesday, Mr Jaishankar addressed the 78th UN General Assembly and urged UN member states to resist “political convenience” in their responses to extremism, terrorism, and violence. This was widely seen as an implicit criticism of Canada.
Mr Jaishankar had urged the UN member states to respect the territorial integrity and non-interference in the internal affairs of all countries and had said that the era of a few nations setting the agenda for the rest of the world was over. His remarks were widely seen as a veiled dig at both China and Canada.
The diplomatic row between India and Canada was triggered after Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau claimed that his government has “credible allegations” of India’s involvement in the June killing of Nijjar on Canadian soil.
(Manas Dasgupta)
