U.S. State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller. File photo: X/@StateDeptSpox

The Biden Administration has engaged with the Indian government on a number of occasions urging them to cooperate with Canada in its investigations into the death of a Khalistani separatist, a U.S. State Department official has said.

Bilateral ties between India and Canada came under severe strain following Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s allegations of “potential” involvement of Indian agents in the killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar in British Columbia in June.

India has rejected the allegations as “absurd” and “motivated” and expelled a senior Canadian diplomat in a tit-for-tat move to Ottawa’s expulsion of an Indian official over the case.

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The issue of the killing of Nijjar in Canada was raised by Secretary of State Antony Blinken during his meeting with External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar here last week.

“As he made clear then, I’ll reiterate now, we remain in close coordination with our Canadian colleagues on this question,” State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller told reporters on Monday at his daily news conference in response to a question.

“We have engaged with the Indian government on a number of occasions to urge them to cooperate with Canada’s investigation. The secretary had an opportunity to do that in his meeting with the foreign minister on Friday,” he said.

When asked if India has agreed to cooperate with Canada, Mr. Miller said this is for New Delhi to respond to.

“I will let the Indian government speak for themselves and I will speak for the United States government, and we urge that cooperation,” he said.

Mr. Jaishankar told journalists here last week that the governments of India and Canada will have to talk to each other and see how they resolve their differences over the issue and underlined that the larger issue of “permissiveness” must be flagged and addressed.

“The issue is as follows, which is that the Canadians have made some allegations. We have pointed out to them that this is not the government of India’s policy, but if they are prepared to share with us specifics and anything relevant, we are also open to looking at it. So in that sense, that’s where the matter stands,” Mr. Jaishankar said.

New York:

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar assured the Canadian side to take action if they provide specific information in connection with Khalistani leader Hardeep Nijjar’s killing, adding “we are open to looking at it.”

Speaking at the ‘Discussion at Council on Foreign Relations’ in New York, Mr Jaishankar said, “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 further said that there has been a lot of “organised crime” in Canada in the last few years, and the Indian government has given a lot of information to Canada regarding this.

“…In the last few years, Canada actually has seen a lot of organized crime, relating to the secessionist forces, organized crime, violence and extremism. They’re all very, very deeply mixed up. So in fact, we have been talking about specifics and information. We have given them a lot of information about organized crime and leadership, which operates out of Canada. There are a large number of extradition requests. There are terrorist leaders, who have been identified,” he said.

The  External Affairs Minister raised concern over these incidents of threats to Indian diplomats and attacks on Indian consulates, stating that these are “very permissive” because of political reasons.

“Our concern is that it’s really been very permissive, because of political reasons. So we have a situation where our diplomats are threatened, our consulates have been attacked…A lot of this is often justified, as saying that’s how democracies work. If somebody gives me something specific, it doesn’t have to be restricted to Canada. But if there’s any incident which is an issue and somebody gives me something specific, as a government, I would look at it,” Mr Jaishankar further said.

Early last week, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made an explosive statement accusing the Indian government of being involved in the killing of Khalistani terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar – a claim that India has outrightly rejected, calling it ‘absurd’ and ‘motivated’.

India has suspended its visa services in Canada, following Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau’s allegations of Indian involvement in the killing.

Amid strained ties, India issued an advisory for its citizens and those who are travelling to Canada to exercise “utmost caution in view of growing anti-India activities and politically-condoned hate crimes and criminal violence” in the country.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

New Delhi:

India rejected Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s allegation that it played a role in the June killing of a Khalistani terrorist, Hardeep Singh Nijjar describing it as “absurd” and “motivated”.

India’s reaction came after Canada expelled a senior Indian diplomat with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau alleging that the Indian government may have had links to the assassination of a Sikh leader in that country.

Canada Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Monday said that his government had “credible allegations” linking Indian agents to the killing of Khalistani leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar, whom India had declared a wanted terrorist. Nijjar was killed on June 18 in Surrey.

“The involvement of any foreign government in the murder of a Canadian citizen on Canadian soil is an unacceptable violation of our sovereignty,” Mr Trudeau told an emergency session of the parliamentary opposition.

He also called “in the strongest possible terms” on the Indian government to cooperate in clearing up the matter.

Here are the LIVE updates on Canada’s action against India:

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India Responds To Trudeau’s Charge On Khalistani Terrorist Killing
The Indian government “completely rejected” the Canadian PM’s allegations and said their political figures openly expressing sympathy for “such elements” remains a matter of deep concern.

“Such unsubstantiated allegations seek to shift the focus from Khalistani terrorists and extremists, who have been provided shelter in Canada and continue to threaten India’s sovereignty and territorial integrity,” said a foreign ministry statement.

Canada PM’s Big Charge On Khalistani Terrorist Killing
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said his government had “credible allegations” linking Hardeep Singh Nijjar’s killing in June last year with the “agents of the Government of India”.