Amid Canada tensions, top Indian, US diplomats to meet in Washington

By Shuriah Niazi

NEW DELHI (AA) - Amid a diplomatic spat between India and Canada over the murder of a Sikh community leader, India’s Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar will be meeting his US counterpart Antony Blinken on Thursday in Washington.

During his visit, Jaishankar has a series of meetings planned, including discussions with his US counterpart Antony Blinken, White House officials, members of the US administration, and interaction with the Indian diaspora, said a press statement issued earlier by the Indian Foreign Ministry.

The agenda of the meeting has not been shared but it is believed that the ongoing crisis between India and Canada will be discussed in the meeting.

Sikh community leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar was shot dead on June 18 in Surrey, Canada’s westernmost province of British Columbia, in front of a Sikh temple. So far, no arrests have been made.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said last week Canada had credible intelligence linking Indian agents to the murder, prompting an angry reaction from New Delhi. It denied the allegation as “absurd” and stopped issuing visas to Canadian citizens due to "security threats."

In a press briefing on Wednesday, State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said: “I don’t want to preview the conversations he will have in that meeting, but as we’ve made clear, we’ve raised this; we have engaged with our Indian counterparts on this and encouraged them to cooperate with the Canadian investigation, and we continue to encourage them to cooperate.”

Miller was responding to questions on the meeting between Jaishankar and Blinken.

Asked about the allegations at a Council on Foreign Relations event in New York, Jaishankar said on Tuesday said New Delhi has told Canada it would look into any "specific" information it provides on the killing of Nijjar.

Nijjar was a vocal supporter of independence for a Khalistani state in the Punjab region. The Indian government has repeatedly insisted that Nijjar was a terrorist – a label his supporters denied – and at the recent G-20 summit in New Delhi, Prime Minister Narendra Modi chided Trudeau for allowing Sikh separatist protests in Canada.

The Canadian premier's shocking accusation of India's involvement in Nijjar's murder heightened tensions to the point where both countries expelled each other's diplomats.

Trudeau, however, said he was not looking to provoke India and urged officials in New Delhi to cooperate with an investigation into the killing.

The Khalistan movement for an independent Sikh state in India peaked in the 1980s. It was put down by force, and most of its leaders are now said to be in Canada, Australia, and the UK.