Khalistan Issue Has Returned Due to ‘Very Permissive Canadian Attitude…’: Jaishankar in US

External affairs minister S Jaishankar on Friday said India is open to looking into allegations that agents of the Indian government killed a “Canadian citizen on Canadian soil”, in reference to the Nijjar issue during his talks with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and national security adviser Jack Sullivan. But, he did not mince words when he said the Khalistan issue has returned due to a “very permissive Canadian attitude” towards those who advocate violence, terrorism and extremism.

The minister said this is where the conversation with Canada is at even though what the country is alleging is “not consistent with our policy”. “The Canadian prime minister (Justin Trudeau) made some allegations, initially privately and then publicly, and our response to him both in private and public were that what he was alleging was not consistent with our policy. And that if he and his government had anything relevant and specific they would like us (India) to look into, we were open to looking at it now; that’s where that conversation is at this point in time…” Jaishankar said during his appearance at the prestigious Hudson Institute think-tank.

He said Indian diplomats are unsafe in Canada and “publicly intimidated”, which is why the ministry of external affairs has been compelled to temporarily suspend even visa operations in Canada. “Today, I’m actually in a situation where my diplomats are unsafe going to the embassy or to the consulate in Canada. They are publicly intimidated, and that has actually compelled me to temporarily suspend even visa operations in Canada,” he added.

Speaking more on the alleged pro-Khalistan sentiment in Canada, Jaishankar further said this has been an issue of friction between the two countries for many years. “…In the last few years, the issue has returned because of what we consider to be a very permissive Canadian attitude towards terrorist extremists and people who openly advocate violence. And they have been given an operating space in Canada because of the compulsions of politics,” he said.

The minister, who met Blinken a day earlier, said the two delegations came out better informed after the meeting at the Foggy Bottom headquarters of the US State Department. When asked if the issue of Canadian allegations came up during this meeting, he said, “Yes, I did,” adding that the US side shared its assessments on this whole situation while he explained to the Americans a summary of India’s concerns.

“I think, hopefully, we both came out better informed,” he added.

Tensions flared between India and Canada following Trudeau’s explosive allegations of the “potential” involvement of Indian agents in the killing of Canadian Khalistani extremist Hardeep Singh Nijjar on his country’s soil on June 18 in British Columbia. India had designated the Sikh separatist leader as a ‘terrorist’ in 2020.

India rejected the allegations as “absurd” and “motivated” and expelled a senior Canadian diplomat in a tit-for-tat move to Ottawa’s expulsion of an Indian official over the case.

(With PTI inputs)