American newspaper The New York Times, quoting sources, said in a report that after the murder of Sikh separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar, America had provided intelligence information to Canada, but the information collected by Ottawa was more concrete and was based on He has accused India. The news broke on Saturday after a top US diplomat in Canada confirmed that intelligence was shared between Five Eyes partners that led Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to indict a Khalistani separatist in the killing on Canadian soil. Prompted to allege involvement of Indian agents.
India called the allegation absurd
India aggressively rejected the allegations as ‘absurd’ and ‘motivated’ and expelled a senior Canadian diplomat in response to Canada expelling an Indian official over the matter. Nijjar, chief of the banned Khalistan Tiger Force (KTF), was killed in Surrey, British Columbia on June 18. India had declared Nijjar a terrorist in 2020. America has requested India to cooperate with Canada in its investigation.
American provided intelligence
The New York Times, quoting unnamed officials, said that after the assassination, US intelligence agencies provided their Canadian counterparts with information that helped Canada conclude that India was involved. These officials said that it appears that Canadian officials monitored the conversations of Indian diplomats and this is the ‘evidence’ which indicates India’s involvement in this conspiracy. In an interview with CTV News channel, the US Ambassador to Canada, David Cohen, said that “intelligence was shared between the Five Eyes partners” based on which Trudeau raised a “potential” link between the Indian government and the killing of a Canadian citizen. Gave a public statement regarding the allegation of affair.
Canadian officials had warned Nijjar
Cohen said that I would say that this is a matter of shared intelligence. There was a lot of communication between Canada and America regarding this. The newspaper said that after Nijjar’s assassination, US officials told their Canadian counterparts that Washington had no prior information about the plot and that if they had any such information, they would immediately share it with Ottawa. According to Karte.khabar, the officials, on the condition of anonymity, said that the Canadian authorities had given a general warning to Nijjar but did not tell him that he was the target of some conspiracy by the Indian government.
Cohen told CTV that America takes these allegations very seriously. He said in response to a question, and you know, if this is proven true, then it is a potentially very serious violation of the rules-based international order. The newspaper said that Secretary of State Antony Blinken has urged India to cooperate with the Canadian investigation, but US officials have largely tried to avoid any diplomatic tension with India. The New York Times said the revelations about US intelligence’s involvement threaten to embroil Washington in a diplomatic dispute between Canada and India at a time when it wants to make New Delhi its closest partner.
America had expressed concern over the allegations
Blinken had said at a press conference in New York on Friday that his country is ‘very concerned’ about the allegations made against India by Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau and that Washington is ‘coordinating closely’ with Ottawa on the issue and Wants to see ‘accountability’ in the matter. Trudeau on Friday said his country shared evidence with India several weeks ago to make credible allegations about the involvement of Indian agents in the killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar and that Canada wants New Delhi to get to the bottom of the facts on this serious issue. Work with Ottawa to commit to reaching this goal.
When asked whether Canada shared any information on this matter with India, the Ministry of External Affairs in New Delhi said, “Canada did not share any specific information on this matter then or before or after.” You know, as we’ve said or I think we’ve made clear, we are open to considering any specific information.