Is US behind Trudeau’s India accusation?
David L. Cohen, US ambassador to Canada,; Pix credit CTV News
By Manish Anand
New Delhi, September 23: US ambassador in Canada David L. Cohen has claimed that the ‘Five Eyes’ intelligence “helped lead Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to make the statement that he did in parliament”. Trudeau had in a sensational statement in parliament claimed that there were “credible allegations of potential involvement of Government of India in the killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar”.
Cohen in an interview to CTV News channel of Canada said that “there was shared intelligence among Five Eyes partners”. His interview to a Canadian television channel has come close on the heels of leaks which formed basis of the report of CBC, a Canadian state-owned media outlet, that “Five Eyes had shared human and signals intelligence involving Indian diplomats in Ottava in the matter involving the killing of Nijjar”.
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Cohen’s interview to a Canadian channel to substantiate the claims of Canada government owned CBC suggests that the US is actively involved in spurring Trudeau to make the allegations directly against the “Government of India”. The western media has also claimed that US President Joe Biden had raised the issue of the killing of Nijjar with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. However, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken had refused last night to substantiate the claims made by the western media of Biden having raised the issue with Modi on the sidelines of the G20 Leaders’ Summit.
Cohen’s interview with the Canadian television channel will be shared on Sunday, and a preview of the show with Vassy Kapelos showed the American diplomat that the “Five Eyes intelligence made Trudeau to give the statement in parliament”. Five Eyes partners are the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and the UK.
However, Cohen has not told the news channels if the intelligence was human or signals. He at the same time told the TV channel that there had been a “lot of communications between the US and Canada”. He refused to divulge further details. The White House has officially stated that the US takes such issues very seriously, while exhorting India to cooperate with Canada.
Reports have also stated that the Canadian national security advisor Jody Thomas had visited India to track the investigation of Nijjar’s killing. Nijjar, incidentally, was a designated terrorist for whom India had announced a reward of $16000 for arrest, while an Interpol notice was also issued following his alleged involvement in a bombing incident in Punjab in 2017.
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