‘Tony’and Jai dial down public sparring on India-Canada row

WASHINGTON: The United States and Canada are dialling down their diatribe against New Delhi over the alleged India hand in the assassination of Sikh extremist Hardeep Singh Nijjar.
Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Thursday that Ottawa is committed to building closer ties with India, despite what he claimed was “credible allegations” that the Indian government was involved in the killing last June.
At a press conference in Montreal, Trudeau said it is “extremely important” that Canada and its allies continue to engage “constructively and seriously” with India given its growing importance on the world stage.
“India is a growing economic power and important geopolitical player. And as we presented with our Indo-Pacific strategy, just last year, we’re very serious about building closer ties with India,” the Canadian media quoted him as saying.
“At the same time, obviously, as a rule of law country, we need to emphasize that India needs to work with Canada to ensure that we get the full facts of this matter,” he added.
Trudeau said he got assurances from the United States that Secretary of State Antony Blinken would be raising the allegations during his meeting with his Indian counterpart S.Jaishankar on Thursday.

But Blinken did not mention the issue during a brief appearance with Jaishankar for a photo spray at the State Department Thursday afternoon. Nor did the hot button issue figure in the readout that followed the meeting.

State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said the two officials “discussed a full range of issues, including key outcomes of India’s G20 presidency, and the creation of the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor and its potential to generate transparent, sustainable, and high-standard infrastructure investments.”
The Secretary and the External Affairs Minister also emphasized the continued importance of cooperation ahead of the upcoming 2+2 Dialogue, in particular in the areas of defense, space, and clean energy, the readout added.

In brief remarks before the meeting, Blinked welcomed “my friend and colleague, Foreign Minister Jaishankar,” spoke of the “very good discussions” they have had over the last weeks, and said he’s “looking forward to pursuing them this afternoon.” No mention of the Canada spat.
Jaishankar on his part thanked the US “for all the support at the G20 summit” and said he looked forward to seeing Blinken (whom he referred to as “Tony”) in Delhi for the 2+2 engagement.
Again, no public mention of the India-Canada spat in which the US had emerged as an interlocutor of sorts, having purportedly fed “intelligence” to Ottawa pointing to an India hand in the killing.
Jaishankar has pushed back strongly at the allegation, saying it is not the policy of the Indian government to undertake such missions, while critiquing “permissive” western policies that give a free run to violent extremists in the name of free speech. But he also said New Delhi is open to examining any “specific” and “relevant” information Canada presents in the matter.Watch Amid India-Canada row, Jaishankar meets US secretary of state Antony Blinken in Washington