This isn't govt of India's policy, open to specific, relevant info: Jaishankar on Canada's allegations

If Ottawa provides any specific or relevant information about its allegation about India’s role in the killing of Khalistani Sikh extremist Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Canada, New Delhi is ready to look into it, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said in New York.

He, however, clarified that India had not yet received any such information from Canada.

More than a week has passed since Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on September 18 went public with his allegation about New Delhi’s role in the killing of the 45-year-old man, who was one of the most-wanted fugitive terrorists in India. Jaishankar also dismissed Canada’s allegation against India, saying that such actions were not the policy of the Government of India.

“If somebody gives me something specific, it doesn't have to be restricted to Canada, but if there is any incident which is an issue and somebody gives me something specific, as a government, I would look at it. Of course, I would look at it,” the external affairs minister said during a discussion with the former US ambassador to India, Kenneth Juster, at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) in New York. He said that India had also conveyed to Canada that it was ready to look into any specific information regarding the allegation.

Jaishankar made the comment when Juster asked him whether India would cooperate with the investigation if Canada provided any specific pieces of evidence to support its allegation.

The comment of the external affairs minister came just ahead of his visit to Washington DC, where he would meet his counterpart Antony Blinken and other officials of United States President Joe Biden’s administration, which repeatedly called upon New Delhi last week to cooperate with Ottawa and participate with the investigation launched by the agencies of the Canadian government into the allegation of India’s role in the killing of Nijjar.

Nijjar was accused in a number of cases in India, including the ones involving murder, terrorist activities and sedition. The Interpol had in 2016 issued a Red Corner Notice against him on India’s request for his alleged role in killing six people in a blast at a cinema in Ludhiana in Punjab in 2007. He, however, lived freely in Canada and even went on to be the president of a gurdwara at Surrey in the British Columbia province of the country. He was shot dead in the parking lot of the gurdwara on June 18.

Trudeau told the House of Commons in Ottawa – the lower house of Canadian Parliament - on September 18 that his government’s security agencies were actively pursuing the ‘credible allegations’ about ‘a potential link’ between New Delhi’s agents and the killing of Nijjar, who had been a citizen of Canada. He subsequently also claimed that Canada had shared the evidence with India “many weeks ago”.

A spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs in New Delhi had on September 21 said that India had not received any specific information from Canada till then.

The external affairs minister himself also confirmed during the CFR event in New York that India had not yet received any specific information from Canada.

Some media outlets quoted sources to report that Canada had communication intercepts to corroborate the claim about the role of India in the killing of Nijjar. A journalist asked Jaishankar at the CFR event if New Delhi had not received from Ottawa the intercepted communications. “If I had, would I not be looking at it?”, the external affairs minister replied.

Trudeau’s allegation against New Delhi took India-Canada relations to a breaking point over the past few days. The two sides over the past few days expelled each other’s diplomats and issued tit-for-tat travel advisories. India called Canada ‘a safe haven’ for terrorists – a rebuke it so far kept exclusively reserved for its next-door arch-rival Pakistan. New Delhi also stopped issuing visas to citizens of Canada and asked Ottawa to downsize its diplomatic and consular missions in India. The negotiation for a trade deal has also been suspended.

“You also have to appreciate that in the last few years, Canada actually has seen a lot of organised crime relating to the secessionist forces, organised crime, violence, extremism. They're all very, very deeply mixed up,” Jaishankar said, adding: “We have actually been badgering the Canadians, we have given them a lot of information about organised crime leadership, which operates out of Canada. There are a large number of extradition requests. There are terrorist leaders who have been identified.”

He said that Ottawa had been very “permissive” to the secessionists running a campaign against India from Canada, “because of political reasons”.

“So, we have a situation where actually our diplomats are threatened, our consulates have been attacked. And a lot of this is often justified (by the Canadian Government) as saying, well, that's how democracies work,” Jaishankar said.

He, however, declined to comment on the reports about Ottawa’s allegation against New Delhi being supported by inputs provided by the US, which is a part of the Five Eyes intelligence alliance that also comprises Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand. He also avoided a question on the reports about US Federal Bureau of Investigation warning the Sikh leaders in America about credible threats against them.

“I'm not part of the Five Eyes. I'm certainly not part of the FBI. You are asking the wrong person,” Jaishankar said in response to questions asked by a journalist.