Washington:
Canadian allegations regarding India’s involvement in the assassination of a pro-Khalistan leader are “serious” and must be fully investigated, the White House said.
Hardeep Singh Nijjar, the head of the banned Khalistan Tiger Force (KTF), was killed on June 18 in Surrey, British Columbia. India had declared Nijjar a terrorist in 2020.
Canada’s claims were discussed when visiting Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar and National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan met here last week, John Kirby, coordinator for strategic communications at the National Security Council at the White House, told reporters at a news conference here.
“The issue was discussed. We will certainly leave it to those two countries to talk about their bilateral relationship,” Kirby said in response to a question.
“We have been clear: these allegations are serious, they must be fully investigated and of course, as we have said before, we urge India to actively participate in that investigation,” Kirby said.
Deputy Foreign Ministry spokesperson Vedant Patel told reporters at a separate news conference that it is critical that the Canadian investigation continues and that the perpetrators are brought to justice.
“We have also, as we have said previously publicly and privately, urged the Indian government to cooperate with the Canadian investigation and cooperate in those efforts,” he said.
The US, he said, has seen the reports on diplomatic staffing for the Canadian High Commission in New Delhi.
“But I have nothing further to offer on these reports and I certainly don’t want to fall into hypothetical situations and go through this process step by step. As it relates to our Indo-Pacific strategy and the focus we continue to place on the region, those efforts and that line of work will continue,” he said.
“With India, we are partners in the Quad and in many others, and we continue to work with them and other countries in the region on a number of important issues.
“But as I said, we take these allegations very seriously and we not only continue to work closely with our Canadian partners, but have publicly and privately urged the Indian government to work with Canada,” Patel said.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)