India-Canada relations come up during bilateral talks with the US
Washington now better informed on it says EAM Jaishankar
WASHINGTON, September 30. The ongoing diplomatic impasse between Canada and India came up for mention during the bilateral talks External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar held with the American counterpart Antony J Blinken with New Delhi emphasising on its position on the central issue – allegations by Ottawa in regard to the killing of a Canadian Sikh.
EAM Dr Jaishankar admitted that the issue figured during his talks at the US Department of State, a day after the official statement issued in Washington made no mention of the issue that turned contentious between India and Canada.
Taking part at a meeting at the Hudson Institute in Washington DC, Dr. Jaishankar asserted that the Canadian allegation in regard to the death of Khalistani separatist was broached and hoped that both sides came out of it “better informed”.
India has already rejected the allegation by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of involvement of Indian officials in the killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar on June 18 in British Columbia.
Separately in a conversation with Indian journalists, Minister Jaishankar maintained that governments in New Delhi and Ottawa will have to talk and resolve the difference that grew over the issue ever since PM Trudeau made a statement in Canadian Parliament, which India dismissed as ‘’absurd’ and ‘motivated”.
The Minister traced the origins of the current flare-up in the situation on account of the attitude of “permissiveness” by Canada. “This permissiveness is also reflected in the fact that some important extradition requests have not been responded to by their side in the fact that there are individuals and organisations who are clearly involved with violence and illegal activities in India”.
That the issue was important and on the table was also indicated separately by PM Trudeau especially after some reports emerged from Canada that intelligence was provided by the special Five Eyes intelligence alliance Canada and the United States have along with three other countries, Australia, United Kingdom and New Zealand to share information.
The Minister concluded his two-day visit to Washington DC with meetings with the Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo. “We appreciated the significant progress in technology collaboration and economic partnership this year. Agreed to enhance their momentum”, he said in a social media post.
After his meeting with the Defense Secretary, Dr. Jaishankar said they had productive conversation on bilateral defence cooperation and useful exchange on global security challenges.
In a separate engagement, the Minister met members of the US defence industry. He said the participants at a meeting organised by the US India Business Council, discussed how strategic convergence, technology collaboration and easier to do businesses are coming together.
