US stresses full investigation of Canada's 'serious' allegations against India
World
US stresses full investigation of Canada’s ‘serious’ allegations against India
WASHINGTON (APP) - Amid escalating New Delhi-Ottawa tensions, the United States has said that Canada’s allegations about India’s involvement in the killing of a prominent Sikh leader on the Canadian soil were “serious” and must be investigated fully.
Hardeep Singh Nijjar, who supported the Khalistan movement, was shot dead by unidentified gunmen outside a gurdwara on June 18 in a Vancouver suburb. India had designated him as a “terrorist” three years earlier.
Asked whether the Canada-India row came up during the meeting, the visiting Indian External Affairs Minister, S Jaishankar had with US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan in Washington last week, John Kirby, the spokesman for the National Security Council at the White House said that the issue was discussed.
“We’ll certainly leave it to those two countries to talk about their bilateral relationship,” Kirby said in response to a question at his press conference.
“We’ve been clear, these allegations are serious, they need to be fully investigated and of course, as we’ve said before, we urge India to participate actively in that investigation,” Kirby said.
Meanwhile, at the State Department, Deputy Spokesperson Vedant Patel said at the daily news briefing that it’s critical that Canada’s investigation proceeds and the perpetrators are brought to justice.
“We also have, as we’ve previously said publicly and privately, urged the Indian government to cooperate in the Canadian investigation and cooperate in those efforts,” he said.
Asked about US’ policy on the Khalistan issue, all that Patel said was that “broadly across the board, individuals have the right to freedoms of speech, right to peacefully assemble in the United States”.
To another question, he said he had seen the reports about India seeking drastic reduction of Canadian diplomatic staff at Canada’s High Commission in New Delhi.
“But I don’t have anything further to offer on those reports and certainly don’t want to get into hypotheticals and take this process one step at a time. As it relates to our Indo-Pacific strategy and the focus that we continue to place on the region, that effort and that line of work is going to continue,” he said.
“With India, we are partners with them in the Quad and in many others, and we continue to work with them and other countries in the region on a number of important issues.
“But as I said, we take these allegations very seriously and we continue to not just work closely with our Canadian partners but have publicly and privately urged the Indian government to cooperate with Canada,” Patel said.
