Antony Blinken urged India to cooperate in Canada’s Sikh murder probe
- India’s Foreign Minister Jaishankar says he explained to the top US diplomat his ‘concerns’ amid allegations of New Delhi’s possible involvement in the killing
- The incident puts the US in an awkward spot diplomatically as a Canadian ally, as it woos India to balance China’s expanding influence in the Indo-Pacific
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Friday he had urged his Indian counterpart to work with Canada to investigate the killing of a Sikh separatist advocate that the Canadian prime minister has linked to Indian government agents.
India’s Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar confirmed earlier he had spoken to Blinken and the US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan about Canadian allegations of New Delhi’s possible involvement in the June killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Canada.
Blinken met Jaishankar at the State Department on Thursday afternoon.
“We’re very concerned about the allegations that have been raised by Canada, by Prime Minister Trudeau,” Blinken told a news conference after a meeting with Mexican officials.
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“We have been in close contact with Canada about that and at same time we have engaged with the Indian government and urged them to work with Canada on an investigation,” he said, adding that he repeated the call in his meeting with Jaishankar.
“Those responsible need to be held accountable and we hope that our friends in both Canada and India will work together to resolve this matter,” Blinken added.
A State Department spokesperson said that in the meeting Blinken had urged India to cooperate “fully” with the ongoing Canadian investigation.
Ties between Indian and Canada have become seriously strained after Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told parliament earlier this month that Canada suspected Indian government agents were linked to the murder of Sikh separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar.
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An official State Department readout of the meeting between Blinken and Jaishankar issued on Thursday made no mention of the Nijjar issue, but an unnamed US official subsequently confirmed late on Thursday that it was raised in the meeting and that Blinken had urged India to cooperate in the investigation.
On Friday, a State Department spokesperson said that during their meeting, the two “discussed a full range of issues impacting the important, strategic, and consequential relationship between the United States and India” and the key issues were noted in the official readout.
“Secretary Blinken also took the opportunity to urge India to cooperate fully with the ongoing Canadian investigation,” the spokesperson added.
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Speaking in Quebec on Thursday, Trudeau said he was certain that Blinken would broach 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, have appeared to take a cautious approach to the matter and analysts have said this is partly because Washington and other major players see India as an important counterweight to China.
Jaishankar said on Tuesday that New Delhi had told Canada it was open to looking into any “specific” or “relevant” information it provides on the killing.
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Trudeau, who has yet to publicly share any evidence, said last week he shared the “credible allegations” with India “many weeks ago”.
Blinken and Sullivan said last week that Washington was “deeply concerned” about the allegations raised by Trudeau.
The US ambassador to Canada told Canadian television that some information on the case had been gathered by the Five Eyes intelligence alliance, which groups the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Britain.
