Ever since Canada said Indian government agents played a role in the killing of a Sikh religious leader on Canadian soil, diplomatic relations between the two countries have been strained. VOA correspondent Veronica Balderas Iglesias reports on the role the United States can play amid this dispute between the two allies.
Tensions between India and Canada over the killing of a Sikh separatist on Canadian soil continue.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken met on Thursday with Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar.
“We are very concerned about the allegations that have been made by Canada. The perpetrators must be held accountable and we hope that our friends in Canada and India will work together to resolve this issue,” Mr. Blinken said during a press conference in Washington.
Secretary Blinken and other officials in Washington, however, have declined to say whether Washington is playing a mediating role.
“I will not talk about what is said in private diplomatic conversations. What we say publicly is that we encourage them to cooperate with the Canadian investigation,” says Matthew Miller, spokesman for the State Department.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has said in the Lower House of the Canadian Parliament and during the UN General Assembly that agents of the Indian government played a role in the killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, an activist for an independent Sikh state in India. He was fatally shot in a Vancouver suburb in June.
While India’s government described Mr Nijjar as a fugitive terrorist, it called Canada’s claim “absurd”. But Minister Jaishankar said India is ready to look at the Canadian evidence.
“We still have to look at the details, but it raises questions about territorial sovereignty, whether a democracy can protect its citizens, and whether democracies can trust each other,” said Leland Lazarus, a security researcher at Florida International University.
It is in the American interest for the United States to maintain close ties with India without damaging relations with Canada, says University of Southern California international relations expert Patrick James.
“Not only should India not be opposed, but ties with India should be deepened as we are in a period where there are real concerns about whether the Sino-Russian coalition, which seems very aggressive now, can be restrained”, Mr. James assesses.
As the Sikh community in various parts of the world demands answers, US officials have encouraged India to cooperate with the Canadian investigation, stressing that Washington condemns oppression anywhere in the world.