Raised concerns over Canada with US: EAM

External affairs minister S Jaishankar has conveyed to US secretary of state Antony Blinken and national security advisor Jake Sullivan India’s concerns about Canada giving operating space to extremism, terror, trafficking and crime, and a “toxic” combination of issues and people it has permitted due to its domestic politics.

During a discussion at the Hudson Institute in Washington DC on Friday, Jaishankar said that in meetings the previous day, the American side had conveyed its own views on the situation, and hopefully both sides came out of their conversations “better informed on the issue”. He added that America and India view Canada differently based on their own interests.

There was no readout from the American side of his interaction with Sullivan, and the state department readout of the meeting didn’t mention discussion on Canada. But state department spokesperson Matthew Miller addressed the issue, urging India to cooperate, shortly before the Jaishankar-Blinken meeting.

And on Friday, Blinken too confirmed that the issue figured in the discussions with his counterpart the previous day. Speaking to reporters, Blinken reiterated that the US was “very concerned” about Canada’s allegations, it had been in touch with Canada, it had engaged with the Indian government, and Washington had urged Delhi to work with Canada on the investigation, adding he had repeated the call in his meeting with Jaishankar. “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,” Blinken said.

At the Hudson Institute, when asked about Canada’s allegations of a possible link between “agents” of the government of India and a killing of a Canadian citizen who India had designated as a terrorist, Jaishankar reiterated that India had told Canada that this wasn’t government of India policy, and if Canada offered something specific and relevant, India was open to looking at it.

“The Canadian PM (Justin Trudeau) made some allegations, initially privately and then publicly. Our response to him, both in private and public, were that what he was alleging wasn’t consistent with our policy. If he had and his government had anything relevant and specific, they would like us to look into, we were open to looking at it. That’s where this conversation is at this point of time,” he said.

But Jaishankar added that one has understand the broader context of politics in Canada, and appreciate that this has been an “issue of great friction” between the two countries going back to 1980s. “Then it became dormant. But in the last few years, it has come back very much into play because of what we consider to be a very permissive Canadian attitude towards terrorists, extremists and people who openly advocate violence. They have been given operating space in Canada because of compulsions of Canadian politics,” he said.

Jaishankar said that, to most Americans, Canada looked very different but this was a function of interests and “where the shoe pinches”.

“For us, it has certainly been country where organised crime from India, mixed with trafficking in people, mixed secessionism, violence, terrorism — it is a toxic combination of issues and people who have found operating space there,” he added.

Jaishankar said that a lot of India-Canada tensions, which preceded Trudeau’s allegations, came from this history. “Today, I am actually in a situation where my diplomats are unsafe going into the embassy and consulates in Canada. They are publicly intimidated. And that has actually compelled me to temporarily suspend even visa operations in Canada. Often countries look very different depending on how you see them and what your interests are but then I have this problem in Canada.”

He said he had spoken about it with Sullivan and Blinken. “They obviously shared US views and assessments on this whole situation. And I explained to them at some length — what I gave you was a summary of concerns which I had. Hopefully we both came out of those meeting better informed.”

On Thursday, asked about Trudeau’s earlier comment that he was sure Blinken would raise the issue with Jaishankar, Miller, the US state department spokesperson, said that he would not speak publicly about what Blinken may say in his meetings before the secretary has had a chance to say it to his counterparts.

But, Miller added, “What I will say, however, is that we have consistently engaged with the Indian Government on this question and have urged them to cooperate, and that engagement and the urge for them to cooperate will continue.”

When asked what was the feedback the US was getting during this engagement, Miller said, “They can speak for themselves. I am not going to speak to what they say in private diplomatic conversations. I will speak to what I say or what we say, and that is we urge them to cooperate with the Canadian investigation.”

When he was asked about the US ambassador to Canada saying that the intelligence provided by Five Eyes alliance leading to Trudeau’s allegation, Miller also said that he was not going to discuss intelligence matters.

The issue snowballed week after Trudeau, on the floor of the Canadian Parliament, claimed that Canadian security agencies were “pursuing credible allegations of a potential link between agents of the Government of India and the killing of a Canadian citizen, Hardeep Singh Nijjar”.

Indian authorities had designated Nijjar — the head of the Khalistan Tiger Force who was shot dead ostensibly by members of a rival rang in Surrey, British Columbia on June 18 — as a terrorist. In its first reaction, the ministry of external affairs rubbished Canada’s allegations as absurd. There is a sense among Indian policymakers that the allegations are motivated by Trudeau’s domestic political calculus, dependence on extremist Sikh forces, and is a way to deflect charges of China’s alleged foreign interference in Canadian politics.

The allegation has complicated India’s deepening partnerships with the western bloc, given that Canada is both the US’s closest Nato ally and a member of G7 and the Five Eyes alliance.