US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has said that US is "deeply concerned" about the allegations made by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau about the Indian government's involvement in the killing of Khalistani terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar.
Tensions escalated between India-Canada relations after Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau alleged that the Indian government was behind the fatal shooting of Hardeep Singh Nijjar. Nijjar was gunned down outside a Gurdwara, in a parking area in Canada's Surrey, British Columbia on June 18 this year.
Coming back to Blinken, he said that the US wants to see accountability and called it "important" that the investigation runs its course and leads to the result.
Addressing a press conference in New York, Blinken said that the US has engaged directly with the Indian government. He said that the US is consulting "very closely" with Canada and coordinating on the issue. He called it important that India works with Canadians on the investigation.
When asked about US' engagement on the row, "We are deeply concerned about the allegations that Prime Minister Trudeau has raised. We have been consulting throughout very closely with our Canadian colleagues, and not just consulting, coordinating with them on this issue," he said in the press conference as quoted by ANI.
"And from our perspective, it is critical that the Canadian investigation proceed. And it would be important that India work with the Canadians on this investigation. We want to see accountability, and it's important that the investigation run its course and lead to that result," he added.
Blinken refused to give details regarding the diplomatic conversations that US had with both nations. He said that investigation must move forward and be completed.
Blinken said, "I'm not going to characterize or otherwise speak to diplomatic conversations that we've have. We've been engaged directly with the Indian government as well. And again, I think the most productive thing that can happen now is to see this investigation move forward, be completed. And we would hope that our Indian friends would cooperate with that investigation as well."
"More broadly, you've heard me speak to this. We are extremely vigilant about any instances of alleged transnational repression, something we take very, very seriously. And I think it's important more broadly for the international system that any country that might consider engaging in such acts not do so. So, it's something that we're also focused on in a much broader way," he added.
Meanwhile, the Canadian on Friday said that Ottawa had shared allegations regarding the killing of Khalistani terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar with India weeks ago. Addressing a joint press conference with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Trudeau said, "In regards to India, Canada has shared the credible allegations that I talked about on Monday. With India, we did that many weeks ago. We are there to work constructively with India and we hope that they engage with us so that we can get to the bottom of this very serious matter."
Ministry of External Affairs in a press release said that Trudeau had made similar allegations to PM Modi and they were "completely rejected."
MEA in a press release said, “We have seen and reject the statement of the Canadian Prime Minister in their Parliament, as also the statement by their Foreign Minister. Allegations of the Government of India's involvement in any act of violence in Canada are absurd and motivated.”
(With inputs from ANI)
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