US hints piping down on Canada’s India row
EAM S Jasishankar meets Secretary of State of the US Antony Blinken
By Manish Anand
New Delhi, September 29: The White House made no mention of the US Secretary of State Antony Blinken raising the issue of Canadian Prime Minister Justine Trudeau’s allegation against India with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on the issue the killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar. News reports have claimed that Blinken did mention the allegation during his meeting with Jaishankar, but the official readout ignored the issue.
Jaishankar met Blinken and the two diplomats discussed the roadmap to execute the consensus arrived at the G20 Leaders’ Summit, as well as the execution of the ambitious IMEC (India-Middle East-Europe Corridor). The White House readout focused the issues of mutual partnership between the US and India, including cooperation in the defence and space sector.
Jaishankar had also met the US national security advisor Jake Sullivan, who is actively involved in the execution of critical technology partnership with India, as well sharing of intelligence on counter-terrorism, besides Chinese activities in the South China Sea and the Himalayan border.
Trudeau had stated that he hoped that the US would push India on the Nijjar killing issue ahead of Blinken’s meeting with Jaishankar. Even while the US, Australia, the UK – the three allies of Canada in Five Eyes – have not shown great enthusiasm in taking up Trudeau’s allegations against India, the Canadian newspapers have come out with reports, claiming that Nijjar was working for the intelligence sleuths of Ottawa. The Canadian dailies have reported that Nijjar had regularly been meeting the Canadian intelligence officials, even ahead of his killing outside a Gurudwara.
Indian diplomatic community has been arguing that Nijjar had been killed as part of inter-gang rivalry over the control of the management of Gurudwaras in Canada. Jaishankar had taken up questions on the Canada-India diplomatic row, saying that New Delhi would be open to look into evidences if shared by Ottawa. Yet, Jaishankar had also underlined the running theme in the Canadian politics to pander to the extremists.
With US President Joe Biden set to be the Chief Guest at the Republic Day celebrations on January 26 in New Delhi, the emerging voices from Washington are keenly watched out in New Delhi on the India-Canada diplomatic row. India has gone aggressive to call Canada a safe haven of terrorists and extremists. Yet, Canada is a key ally of the US. And, there are suggestions that the US will work back-channel to pipe down the rhetoric of Canadian prime minister on the Nijjar killing issue.
About The Author
