US President Joe Biden and other prominent leaders reportedly discussed Canada’s concerns on Hardeep Singh Nijjar’s killing with PM Narendra Modi at the G20 Summit earlier this month.
Several members of the Five Eyes, an intelligence-sharing network that includes the US, the UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, raised the June killing of Khalistani leader Nijjar in British Columbia with India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Financial Times reported, citing unnamed sources familiar with the discussions at the summit.
Canada has alleged India was “involved” in the murder of Sikh separatist leader Nijjar in Canada earlier this year.
The summit was held in India days before Canadian PM Justin Trudeau made his allegations public in an address to the Canadian parliament on Monday.
The leaders intervened at the G20 summit after Canada urged its allies to raise the case directly with PM Modi during the summit, the UK newspaper reported.
Canada’s concerns addressed by US
US national security adviser Jake Sullivan said on Thursday that the US is in touch with Indians at high levels following Ottawa’s claims about the murder of the Sikh separatist leader in Canada, and Washington is giving India no “special exemption” in the matter, according to media reports.
Sullivan dismissed suggestions that the US’s desire to bolster ties with India would constrain its ability to voice concerns about the allegations.
He asserted that the Biden administration took Canada’s allegations “seriously” and it was in “constant contact” with Ottawa.
“We are in constant contact with our Canadian counterparts,” Sullivan was quoted as saying by the Financial Times.
Sullivan also “firmly” rejected the idea of a wedge between the US and Canada on this issue as indicated by a section of the media.
India has rejected the claims by Canadian PM Trudeau on the alleged involvement of “agents of the Indian government”, calling the allegations “absurd” and “motivated”, and also expelled a senior Canadian diplomat in a tit-for-tat move to Ottawa’s expulsion of an Indian official over the case.
The crisis further deepened after India on Thursday temporarily suspended new visas for Canadians citing “technical and security concerns”, and asked Ottawa to reduce its diplomatic presence in the country.
Meanwhile, one of the leading Indian steel makers, JSW Steel Ltd, has reportedly hinted at slowing down the process to buy a stake in the steelmaking coal unit of Canada’s Teck Resources, in what is seen as the first sign that the diplomatic spat between the two countries is affecting bilateral trade ties.
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