U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken addresses members of the press on the sidelines of the 78th United Nations General Assembly at the Lotte Palace Hotel in New York City, U.S., September 22, 2023.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the U.S. was “deeply concerned” about allegations that India had a role in the death of Khalistani separatist leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar in British Columbia and that it wanted to see accountability for the incident.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had told the country’s parliament on Monday that there were reasons to believe agents of the Government of India were involved in killing Mr Nijjar in June this year.

“It would be important that India work with the Canadians on this investigation,” Mr. Blinken told reporters at a press briefing in New York on Friday. “We want to see accountability and it’s important that the investigation run its course and lead to that to that result.”

World leaders and diplomats have gathered in the city for the 78th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA).

The U.S. was not just consulting with the Canadians, but cooperating with them in the investigation, according to the Secretary.

“I think the most productive thing that can happen now is to see this investigation move forward, be completed,” he said adding that he hoped that “our Indian friends” would cooperate.

Directly engaging with India

Questioned on the nature of U.S. engagement with India on the matter, Mr. Blinken did not want to get into specifics, saying instead that the U.S. government had been directly engaging the Indian government on the issue.

Mr. Blinken made the larger point that the U.S. was very vigilant about alleged instances of “transnational repression” and called on countries not to engage in it.

“We are extremely vigilant about any instances of alleged transnational repression, “ he said, adding that the U.S. took it “very, very seriously”.

“And I think it’s important, more broadly, for the international system, that any country that might consider engaging in such acts not to not do so,” he said.

Mr. Trudeau, who was in New York on Thursday, had again stated his allegation, saying India’s alleged role in the killing of a Canadian in Canada was “of the utmost and foundational importance in a country of rule of law, in a world where international rules-based order matters”.

The Indian flag is seen flying at the High Commission of India in Ottawa, Canada
| Photo Credit: AP

 Even physical applications for Indian visas from Canadian citizens to Indian missions in third countries will not be processed under the suspension of Indian visas for Canadians that the Government of India is enforcing this week. A source clarified to The Hindu that the suspension of Indian visas for Canadians has a worldwide scope as Indian missions outside Canada will also not accept walk-in paper visa applications from Canadians as part of the process of suspension. 

The person with knowledge of the Indian visa process said that this is mainly because Indian visa application like other visa applications will require Canadians to deposit a visa fees with Indian missions in third countries. “We would not like to receive visa fees — which is non-refundable anyway — if we do not plan to process the visa applications,” said the source. 

The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) announced on Thursday that normal functioning of the Indian High Commission in Ottawa and other Indian missions has been affected because of “security threats” that are being faced by Indian diplomats and they are therefore “temporarily unable” to issue visas. That apart the spokesperson of the MEA said, e-visas for Canadians were also within the ambit of the suspension.

Political undercurrents

But the latest clarification has broadened the scope of the ban as no Canadian will be entertained in any of the Indian missions spread across the world for an Indian visa. This also indicates that though the suspension is being implemented because of apparent “security threats”, it also has bureaucratic and political undercurrents leading to a worldwide implementation through Indian missions. India has one of the largest diplomatic networks in the world covering most of the global map and the visa ban for Canadians will effectively end flow of Canadian passport holders to India for a temporary period. This suspension however does not cover those Canadians who hold OCI cards and valid Indian visas.

The visa crisis is a fallout of the controversy triggered by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Monday statement before the House of Commons in which he accused Indian operatives for being behind the June murder of Khalistan Tiger Force chief Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Surrey, British Columbia. Subsequently, Canadian missions in India have “decided to temporarily adjust staff presence in India” indicating they were cutting down on diplomatic and non-diplomatic staff employed in India. MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi also said India would prefer “parity” in posting of diplomats in each other’s missions indicating that Canada will scale down its diplomatic manpower in India. 

India is “temporarily unable to process visa applications” from Canada because of “security threats faced by our High Commissions and Consulates” in that country, the government said Thursday afternoon, as hostilities escalate over accusations that “agents of New Delhi” killed a Khalistani terrorist and Canadian national – Hardeep Singh Nijjar – on Canadian soil. 

The Foreign Ministry statement comes hours after BLS International – a private agency hired for initial scrutiny of visa requests – cited “operational reasons” to suspend services till further notice.

“You are aware of the security threats being faced by our High Commissions and Consulates in Canada… this has disrupted their normal functioning. Accordingly, our High Commissions and Consulates are temporarily unable to process visa applications,” Arindam Bagchi, the ministry spokesperson, told reporters. “We will be reviewing the situation on a regular basis.”

The Indian government has also suspended issue of electronic visas, Mr Bagchi added, stressing that the issue is about “discrimination in how visas are granted by the Canadian side”.

READ |Indian Visas For Canadians Suspended Amid Row: “Operational Reasons”

“All categories of visas are suspended. Issue not about travel to India… those who have valid visas (issued before this suspension order) are (cleared) to travel to India. The issue is the creation of an environment that disrupts functioning of our consulates and high commission,” he said.

Mr Bagchi dismissed claims Indian “agents” had killed Nijjar and called them “politically driven”. He pointed out that “no specific information” had been shared by Ottawa on the alleged killing.

READ | “Allegations By Canada Politically Driven”: India Amid Diplomatic Row

“We are willing to look at specific information if provided… from our side, we have very specific information on particular individuals in Canada and all these have been shared with them.”

“But Canada hasn’t acted on them,” he said.

On India expelling a senior diplomat – after Canada ordered a top Research and Analysis Wing official to leave its borders – Mr Bagchi said the other side had been asked to downsize its diplomatic presence in India citing “interference of Canadian diplomats in Indian affairs”.

READ |In Tit-For-Tat Move, India Asks Canada Diplomat To Leave Within 5 Days

“Canadian diplomatic presence in India is larger than what India has (in Canada)… accordingly needs to be downsized. There should be parity, their numbers are much higher,” Mr Bagchi said.

READ | “Interference In Our Affairs”: India Wants Reduction In Canada Diplomats

Apart from each side ejecting one official, India and Canada also traded adverse travel advisories. 

Canada updated its India advisory this week to mirror that of the United States and it explicitly mentions Jammu and Kashmir and the northeast, warning of “violent clashes between militants and security forces in the former” and “ethnic tensions” leading to “conflict and civil unrest”in the latter.

READ | Canada Rejects India’s Travel Advisory Amid Escalating Diplomatic Row

And, on Wednesday, shortly after External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar met PM Modi in the new Parliament building, India advised its citizens in Canada, and those contemplating travelling, to exercise “utmost caution” in view of anti-India activities and “politically-condoned” hate crimes.

Nijjar, 45, was shot dead outside a gurdwara in Canada’s British Columbia in June. Hailing from Punjab’s Jalandhar, he was chief of the banned Khalistan Tiger Force and one of India’s most wanted terrorists. There was a Rs 10 lakh reward for his capture or information leading to his arrest.

India-Canada ties were already tense after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s conversation with Canada’s Justin Trudeau at the G20 Summit in Delhi this month. The PM expressed India’s “strong concerns about continuing anti-India activities” in that country.