The United States has indicated that Canada’s charges concerning India’s participation in the slaying of a major Sikh leader on Canadian soil were “serious” and required a thorough investigation amid rising New Delhi-Ottawa tensions. On June 18 in a Vancouver neighborhood, Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a supporter of the Khalistan movement, was shot and killed by unknown assailants outside a gurdwara. He had been labeled a “terrorist” by India three years prior. When asked if the dispute between Canada and India came up during the meeting that S. Jaishankar, the visiting Indian Minister of External Affairs, had with Jake Sullivan, the US National Security Advisor, in Washington last week, John Kirby, the White House National Security Council spokesman, confirmed that it did.
Kirby replied to a query at his news briefing, “We’ll certainly leave it to those two countries to talk about their bilateral relationship.” We’ve been clear: These claims need to be thoroughly probed because they are serious. Of course, as we’ve said before, we urge India to actively take part in the investigation. At the State Department, Deputy Spokesperson Vedant Patel stated during his daily news conference that it is crucial for Canada’s investigation to continue and for the offenders to be prosecuted. He said, “We have also, as we have previously stated publicly and privately, pushed the Indian government to participate in the Canadian investigation and in those efforts.
All Patel could say when asked about American policy regarding the Khalistan problem was that “individuals have the right to freedoms of speech and right to peacefully assemble in the United States generally across the board.” (India has been pressuring the United States to stop Khalistani activists’ operations here.) In response to a different query, he stated that he had seen stories about India requesting a significant reduction in the number of Canadian diplomats at the Canadian High Commission in New Delhi.
But I’m at a loss for words on those reports, and I’d rather not enter hypothetical territory. Instead, let’s move forward with this procedure step by step. That initiative and that line of work will continue as it relates to our Indo-Pacific strategy and the focus we continue to spend on the region, he said. “With India, we engage closely with them and other nations in the region on a lot of significant problems. We are partners with them in the Quad and in many other organizations. The Indian government has been requested both publicly and privately to assist with Canada, Patel said, adding that “as I said, we take these allegations very seriously.” Patel continued, “We continue to not just work closely with our Canadian partners.”
