Canada vs India over Nijjar death: UK, Australia PMs appear cold to Trudeau's claims. Here's how

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s effort to corner India diplomatically over the alleged role of 'agents of government' in the death of Khalistan terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar seems to have failed miserably after its so-called “closest allies” refused to condemn New Delhi over the incident.

Earlier in the day, CBC News, quoting sources from the government, reported that Trudeau briefed the leaders of some of Canada's closest allies, including UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, French President Emmanuel Macron, and US President Joe Biden.

While Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese didn’t express his opinion on the incident, his British counterpart’s spokesperson said that the Rishi Sunak government’s priority is to secure a trade deal with India.

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Meanwhile, the US officials said that they have been in close contact withtheir Canadian counterparts about the issue and said they were "quite concerned" about the allegations.

During a press conference on Tuesday (Sep 19) in Canberra, a reporter asked the Albanese whether he personally raised concerns with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi at this month's G20 meeting in India over the death of the Khalistan terrorist.

'Chill out': Albanese deflects question

"Your foreign ministry says it's raised concerns with the Indian government about its alleged role in the death of a Sikh activist in Canada, have you raised those concerns personally with Mr Modi at the G20, and do you regret calling him a boss when he visited in Australia?" the reporter asked.

To which Albanese responded, "Seriously, you should chill out a bit. You know, we were at a venue where Bruce Springsteen played the last time I was there.

"And I made the point that the reception he got from the community... the Indian diaspora welcomed him very strongly, it's as simple as that.

"I welcomed Prime Minister Modi to Australia as I welcome other guests to Australia as well.

"I have had the privilege of being at the G20 hosted by India. That was a major event which signalled in part the rise of countries in our region."

Though the prime minister refused to comment on the issue, Foreign Minister Penny Wong said Australia was "deeply concerned" about allegations of a potential link between the Indian government and the killing of the 45-year-old terrorist.

Sunak's spokesperson: UK's only focus on India trade deal

Similarly, the British prime minister’s spokesperson said the killing won’t have a bearing on trade deal with India, reports Reuters news agency.

"Work on the trade negotiations will continue as before. The Canadian authorities will now conduct their work and I'm not going to preempt them," the spokesperson told reporters.

“When we have concerns about countries we are negotiating trade deals with, we will raise them directly with the government concerned. But with regards to the current negotiations with India, these are negotiations about a trade deal, and we're not looking to conflate them with other issues.”

US is 'quite concerned' aboutallegations

Asenior State Department official told reporters that they have been inclose contact with their Canadian counterparts about allegationsagainst the Indian government and urged New Delhito cooperate with the investigation.

"We have been in close contact with our Canadian colleagues about this. We're quite concerned about the allegations. We think it's important there is a full and open investigation and we would urge the Indian Government to cooperate with that investigation," said theofficial at a pressbriefing, as quoted by Reuters.

(With inputs from agencies)

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