In Nijjar murder row with Canada, India's foreign minister Jaishankar urges Ottawa to share specifics

India's Foreign Minister S Jaishankar, who will be concluding his visit to the United States, on Friday (Sep 29) spoke about the ongoing diplomatic standoff between India and Canada over the murder of Khalistani terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar. Addressing a press conference in Washington DC, Foreign Minister Jaishankar said, "Well, I don't know if I would use the term deadlock..."

"The issue is as follows: The Canadians have made some allegations. We have pointed out to them that this is not the Government of India's policy and if they are prepared to share with us specifics and anything relevant, we are also open to looking at it," Jaishankar added.

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Jaishankar highlights ongoing problem with Canada

Jaishankar pointed out that the ongoing problem with Ottawa evolves around the permissiveness regarding terrorism, extremism, and violence in Canada.

"This permissiveness is also reflected in the fact that some important extradition requests have not been responded to from their side in the fact that there are individuals and organisations who are clearly involved with violence and illegal activities in India, who themselves declared," he said.

"I mean it is not a secret. They continue to carry on with their activities in Canada and most important, the fact that our diplomatic missions and our diplomatic personnel have been consistently and continuously intimidated in Canada," the Indian foreign minister added.

Jaishankar also mentioned the recent incidents of smoke bombs thrown at Indian missions in Canada along with violence in front of consulates. "Individuals have been targeted and intimidated. There are posters put up about people. So tell me, do you consider this normal?... If this had happened to any other country, how would they react to it?... Let's not normalize what is happening in Canada," he said.

Raised Nijjar's murder with New Delhi: Blinken

Jaishankar's press conference comes hours after US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said he raised the murder of Hardeep Singh Nijjar with the Indian foreign minister in a meeting on Thursday.

"We're very concerned about the allegations that have been raised by Canada, by Prime Minister (Justin) Trudeau. We have been in close contact with Canada about that, and at the same time, we have engaged with the Indian government and urge them to work with Canada on an investigation. And I had the opportunity to do so again in my meeting yesterday with Foreign Minister (Subrahmanyam) Jaishankar," Blinken said in a press conference.

"Those responsible need to be held accountable and we hope that our friends in both Canada and India will work together to resolve this matter,” he added.

Earlier, neither Blinken nor the US State Department made any mention of raising the murder of Nijjar during Thursday's meeting with Jaishankar.

A statement issued by the State Department on Thursday said that Jaishankar and Blinken held talks on a range of issues including the recently concluded G20 Summit in New Delhi and the creation of the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor. But nowhere, did the statement explicitly mention the two leaders talking about Nijjar's murder.

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