US Secretary of State Antony Blinken called on India to cooperate with the Canadian investigation into the murder of a Sikh separatist during a meeting on Thursday with Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, the US authorities said in a statement.
In a speech in Quebec on Thursday, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who has accused India of playing a role in the assassination, said he was certain Blinken would raise the issue with Jaishankar.
India has dismissed Canada’s accusations as absurd and ties between the two countries have become strained, with both governments expelling a diplomat in a retaliatory move.
“Blinken raised the Canadian issue in his meeting, (and) asked the Indian government to cooperate with the Canadian investigation,” the U.S. official said, although a State Department statement did not mention the issue.
Trudeau told the Canadian parliament earlier this month that Canada suspects Indian government agents were linked to the killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar in the province of British Columbia in June.
Nijjar was a Canadian citizen, but India declared him a “terrorist”: he supported the cause of Khalistan, that is, an independent homeland for Sikhs separate from India.
Blinken met with Jaishankar on Thursday afternoon in Washington. When asked directly whether Blinken would address the case, Trudeau responded: “The Americans will certainly discuss this issue with the Indian government.”
The US State Department’s formal statement on its website after Blinken’s meeting with his Indian counterpart made no mention of Nijjar’s killing or Canada as a whole.
A brief State Department summary of the topics discussed in the meeting between Blinken and Jaishankar listed points such as India’s presidency of the G20, the creation of an India-Middle East-Europe corridor and topics such as defense, space and energy clean.
Source: Terra
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