India Discusses Diplomatic Dispute With Canada With US Officials
Jaishankar Says US Offered Perspective, Assessments
Speaking with US national security adviser Jake Sullivan and secretary of state Antony Blinken on Thursday, external affairs minister S. Jaishankar brought up the diplomatic dispute that had followed the Canadian prime minister's public accusation of the Indian government of being involved in the killing of Khalistani separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Canada.
When asked if this was discussed in his conversations with the Biden administration and how it was affecting bilateral relations given that the US has "one of the closest and most extensive" ties with Canada, Jaishankar confirmed it during his interactive session at the Washington-based think tank Hudson Institute on Friday.
The debate between India and Canada was not one of the topics covered in either the readout provided by the US State Department on the talk between Jaishankar and Blinken or the minister's post on X.
Regarding the conversation Sullivan and Blinken and Jaishankar had on Canada, Jaishankar stated: "They definitely offered US perspectives and assessments on this entire scenario. And I went into great depth with them about India's worries. We both, hopefully, learned more from those meetings.
Jaishankar had earlier said that the talks with Canada had not progressed past the accusations made in both public and private settings and India's response. "The Canadian prime minister made some accusations, first in secret and then in public. In both private and public, we responded to him by saying that his claims did not follow our policy and that we were willing to look into anything relevant and particular his government requested. That is the current state of the conversation.
Jaishankar emphasized the significance of comprehending the history. "You must also recognize that there has been considerable tension between this topic and Canada for many years, dating all the way back to the 1980s, in order to comprehend that conversation. Then it became dormant, but in recent years it has become highly active again due to what we believe to be Canada's extremely tolerant attitude toward terrorists.
