Blinken calls on India to cooperate on Canada killing probe
World
Blinken said the United States has been in touch both with India and Canada.
New York (AFP) – US Secretary of State Antony Blinken called on India Friday to cooperate with Canada and ensure "accountability" over the killing of a Sikh separatist after Ottawa accused New Delhi of involvement.
Blinken said the United States has been in touch both with India, with which it has warming ties, and Canada, a close ally which expelled an Indian diplomat earlier this week.
"We want to see accountability. And it's important that the investigation run its course and lead to that result," Blinken told reporters in New York, where he was taking part in the UN General Assembly.
"We would hope that our Indian friends would cooperate with that investigation as well," Blinken said.
Blinken, without commenting directly on the substance of the allegations, said that the United States took "very, very seriously" incidents of "transnational repression."
"I think it's important, more broadly, for the international system that any country that might consider engaging in such acts not do so," he said.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Monday that Indian agents played a role in the June murder of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a Canadian citizen, near Vancouver.
Trudeau on Thursday called on India to cooperate on the investigation.
Nijjar was wanted by India for alleged terrorism and conspiracy to commit murder. He was part of the Khalistan movement, which advocates a separate Sikh homeland and was crushed by Indian security forces in the 1980s.
India has come back swinging at Canada, reducing its diplomatic staff and stopping visa services.
"We are deeply concerned about the allegations that Prime Minister Trudeau has raised," U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken told reporters in a press briefing. "It would be important that India work with the Canadians on this investigation. We want to see accountability."
The White House has spoken of its concerns over the allegations, but Blinken is the most senior U.S. official to have commented thus far.
Traditional Canadian allies, including the United States, appeared to take a cautious approach to the matter earlier this week. Political analysts said this was partly because the United States and other major players see India as a counterweight to the growing influence of China.
"We have been consulting throughout very closely with our Canadian colleagues, not just consulting but coordinating with them on this issue," Blinken said.
During a press conference Trudeau was asked about the allegations, and he repeated his call for the Indian government to cooperate.
"We are there to work constructively with India. We hope that they engage with us so that we can get to the bottom of this very serious matter," Trudeau said.
On Friday, Trudeau also said Canada shared its concerns with New Delhi some time ago.
"Canada has shared the credible allegations that I talked about on Monday with India. We did that many weeks ago," Trudeau told reporters.
The Canadian government has amassed both human and signals intelligence in a months-long investigation into the Sikh separatist leader's murder, CBC News reported separately on Thursday citing sources.
The report said the intelligence included communications of Indian officials present in Canada, adding some of the information was provided by an unidentified ally in the Five Eyes alliance.
Five Eyes is an intelligence-sharing network that includes the U.S., the UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.
However, Trudeau has not provided any details about what Canada's spy agencies have collected, and his office has not confirmed or denied the CBC report.
Senior Canadian government sources have said that Trudeau would not have spoken publicly without having a high level of confidence in the intelligence.
