US asks India to cooperate with Canada's probe into killing of Khalistani extremist

President Joe Biden’s administration in Washington DC has asked New Delhi to “participate and cooperate” with the investigation launched by Ottawa into the allegation that the agents of the Government of India might have had a role in the killing of a Khalistani Sikh extremist in Canada.

Australia and the United Kingdom also stressed the importance of concluding the investigation launched by Canada into the allegation about the role of India in the killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a Khalistani Sikh extremist, in the North American nation.

“It is an active criminal investigation. I hope that we can make sure that perpetrators are brought to justice, and that they can all allow the space for that information and that investigation before anybody leaps to any judgment,” Eric Garcetti, the ambassador of the United States to India, said in New Delhi. He was responding to a question on the US stand on Canada’s allegations against India. He, however, added that “any allegation” like the one Ottawa made against New Delhi “should be troubling”.

“We believe a fully transparent comprehensive investigation is the right approach so that we can all know exactly what happened and of course, we encourage India to cooperate with that,” John Kirby, US National Security Council (NSC) Coordinator for Strategic Communications, told CNN. He added that the US would support Canada’s efforts to investigate the ‘serious’ allegations against India.

Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong said at the United Nations headquarters in New York that Canberra had taken up with New Delhi the allegation of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau about India’s role in the killing of a citizen of the North American nation. She termed the reports about Ottawa’s allegations against New Delhi as “concerning” and noted that the investigations were “still underway”, subtly hinting that Australia would wait for the probe to get over before drawing a conclusion on the veracity of Canada’s accusations against India.

Trudeau, who was in New Delhi to attend the G20 summit on September 9 and 10, spoke to British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, French President Emmanuel Macron and US President Joe Biden about India’s role in the killing of Nijjar in Canada, CBC News reported on Tuesday.

Some media reports also suggested that Ottawa had proposed a joint statement by Five Eyes – an intelligence alliance comprising Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the UK Kingdom and the US – on the role of New Delhi in the murder of Nijjar, possibly on the sideline of the G20 summit hosted by India. But the UK, the US and Australia declined to be a part of it.

A spokesperson of British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said that London would go ahead with its negotiation with New Delhi for a trade deal even as the Trudeau Government in Ottawa suspended talks for a similar agreement with India in the wake of the allegation about the alleged role of the agents of the South Asian nation in the killing of the Khalistani Sikh extremist at the British Columbia province of Canada. It is “important not to get ahead of the work” that the Canadian Government is doing by investigating the allegations, said the spokesman of Sunak.

“All countries should respect sovereignty and the rule of law. We are in regular contact with our Canadian partners about serious allegations raised in the Canadian Parliament,” James Cleverly, the British Foreign Secretary, posted on Twitter. “(It is) Important that Canada’s investigation runs its course and the perpetrators (are) brought to justice,” added Cleverly, who was also in New York for the United Nations General Assembly.