Foreign Minister S Jaishankar will meet US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Washington today, amid the diplomatic row with Canada over.
The killing of Khalistani terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar on Canadian soil in June this year. Mr Jaishankar and Mr Blinken met on the sidelines of the the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) session in New York last week. However, the India-Canada diplomatic crisis was not part of the discussions, the US State Department said.
The US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller has declined to comment on the specific topics that will be discussed during the upcoming meeting between the two leaders. However, he assured that the US has urged India to cooperate with Canada’s investigation into Nijjar’s killing.
“I don’t want to preview the conversations he (Blinken) will have in that meeting (with MrJaishankar), but as we have made clear, we have raised this; we have engaged with our Indian counterparts on this and encouraged them to cooperate with the Canadian investigation, and we continue to encourage them to cooperate,” Mr Miller said.
Speaking at the Council for Foreign Relations in New York on Tuesday, Mr Jaishankar reiterated India’s stance on the allegations levelled by Canada, emphasising that India does not engage in such acts as a matter of policy and principle.
Mr Blinken said the US is deeply concerned about the Canadian PM’s allegations. He added that the US wants to see “accountability” and that it is important for the investigation to run its course and lead to a result.
India has categorically rejected Canada’s allegations, calling them “baseless”. Mr Jaishankar has assured Canada that India will investigate the matter if it is provided with specific information about Nijjar’s killing.
“We told the Canadians that this is not the government of India’s policy. Secondly, we said if you have something specific and if you have something relevant, let us know. We are open to looking at it…The picture is not complete without the context in a way,” he said.
On Tuesday, Mr Jaishankar addressed the 78th UN General Assembly and urged UN member states to resist “political convenience” in their responses to extremism, terrorism, and violence. This was widely seen as an implicit criticism of Canada.
Mr Jaishankar urged UN member states to respect the territorial integrity and non-interference in the internal affairs of all countries and said that the era of a few nations setting the agenda for the rest of the world is over. His remarks were widely seen as a veiled dig at both China and Canada.
The diplomatic row between India and Canada was triggered after Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau claimed that his government has “credible allegations” of India’s involvement in the June killing of Nijjar on Canadian soil.