Washington DC [US] : The US has said it is “deeply concerned” about Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s allegations regarding the Indian government’s ‘potential role’ in the fatal shooting of Khalistan terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar.
The US urged the Indian government to cooperate with the Canadian investigation to ensure that “those responsible are brought to justice”.
“We continue to be deeply concerned about the allegations referenced by Prime Minister Trudeau and we remain in regular contact with our Canadian partners and it is critical that Canada’s investigation proceeds and perpetrators be brought to justice, we also have publically and privately urged the Indian govt to cooperate in the Canadian investigation…” said US State Department Principal Deputy Spokesperson Vedant Patel.
Patel made the remarks during the US State Department’s daily press briefing on Tuesday.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau recently alleged that the Indian government was behind the fatal shooting of Nijjar.
Nijjar, who was a designated terrorist in India, was gunned down outside a Gurdwara, in a parking area in Canada’s Surrey, British Columbia on June 18.
Trudeau, during a debate in the Canadian Parliament, claimed his country’s national security officials had reasons to believe that “agents of the Indian government” carried out the killing of the Canadian citizen, who also served as the president of Surrey’s Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara.
However, India has outrightly rejected the claims, calling it ‘absurd’ and ‘motivated’.
Notably, Canada has yet to provide any public evidence to support the claim about the killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar.
Meanwhile, Trudeau has said that Ottawa wants to “work constructively with India” regarding the allegations.
While addressing a joint press conference with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Trudeau said, “In regards to India, Canada has shared the credible allegations that I talked about on Monday. With India, we did that many weeks ago. We are there to work constructively with India and we hope that they engage with us so that we can get to the bottom of this very serious matter.”
EAM Jaishankar recently said that the ongoing problem with Canada has been there for some years because of the “permissiveness” by the Canadian government regarding terrorism, extremism and violence in the country.
Jaishankar said that the current situation can’t be termed a “deadlock”, adding that the Indian government is open to looking at any specific and relevant thing shared by the Canadian side in connection with the issue.
Addressing a press conference in Washington DC on Friday, Jaishankar said, “Well, I don’t know if I would use the term deadlock…The issue is as follows: The Canadians have made some allegations. We have pointed out to them that this is not the Government of India’s policy and if they are prepared to share with us specifics and anything relevant, we are also open to looking at it. So in that sense, that’s where the matter stands”.
