'US, Canada issues not same': Jaishankar on India's response to allegations regarding pro-Khalistani elements

Bengaluru, December 17

With the India-Canada relationship reaching a flash point over the killing of Khalistani terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Surrey, British Columbia, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Sunday said India, a responsible and prudent country, is always open to examine inputs given by any other country.

He said the issues brought up by Canadians and Americans are “not necessarily the same”.

“I think everybody knows that India is a country where we are very responsible, we are very prudent about what we do. The whole issue for us has been that we have always maintained that any country, not just Canada, has a concern and gives us some input or some basis for that concern, we are always open to look at it. This is what countries do,” Jaishankar said during an interaction after a lecture on the topic ‘A decade of change’, organised by the Rotary Institute here.

“The point was that when the Americans brought up some issues…the two issues are not necessarily the same. Let me also say that, when they brought up the issue, the Americans told us some specific things,” he added.

The minister said India has “very sincerely” told the Canadians that it was their choice if they would like us (India) to pursue it further, or look into it or not.

The ties between India and Canada came under severe strain following Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s allegations on September 18 of a “potential” involvement of Indian agents in the killing of Nijjar on June 18 in British Columbia. India had designated Nijjar as a terrorist in 2020.