Biden ‘very worried’ about diplomatic dispute between India and Canada

According to reports, US President Joe Biden was “highly concerned” about the diplomatic spat between India and Canada over Ottawa’s allegation that Indian government operatives assassinated its citizen Hardeep Singh Nijjar on Canadian territory.

According to US media sources, the incident and the worsening India-Canada ties raised worries in the US.

When accused of harboring pro-Khalistan terrorists on its soil during the G20 summit in Delhi, Justin Trudeau, the prime minister of Canada, had a difficult time. He claimed that agents connected to the Indian government had assassinated a Canadian citizen named Nijjar on Indian soil and expelled an Indian diplomat.

In actuality, one diplomat from each nation’s high commission was expelled.

Indian authorities identify Nijjar as a prominent Sikh separatist in Canada who promotes pro-Khalistan rhetoric and calls for a break from India in a worrisome secessionist campaign.

When pro-Khalistani militants recently staged a tableau through the streets of Canada that praised the 1984 death of the then-Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi by her Sikh bodyguards, India was very unhappy.

She was killed because of her “Blue Star” operation, which sent the army inside the Golden Temple in Amritsar to remove militants, which some Sikhs considered a desecration on their sacred site.

Even though Trudeau claimed that Canada “did not restrict of freedom of speech of any of its citizens,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi was direct in ordering his counterpart Trudeau to stop the activities of pro-Khalistani groups that were harboring on its land.

As Ottawa claimed that New Delhi may have been involved in the murder of a Sikh activist on Canadian territory, tensions between Canada and India grew. Both countries expelled top ambassadors while India denounced the claim as “absurd.”

On Monday, Trudeau said that his administration was looking into “credible allegations” that Hardeep Singh Nijjar’s murder may have been caused by operatives of the Indian government.

The 45-year-old Nijjar was shot and died in June in Surrey, British Columbia, a suburb of Vancouver. “Any involvement of a foreign government in the killing of a Canadian citizen on Canadian soil is an unacceptable violation of our sovereignty,” Trudeau said in a Monday address to Parliament.

“In the strongest terms possible, I continue to call on the Indian government to work with Canada to resolve this issue.”

A senior Indian diplomat has been expelled from Canada, Ottawa said on Monday. A senior Canadian diplomat had been ordered to leave India within the next five days, New Delhi reacted on Tuesday.

According to US media sources, the Indian Foreign Ministry said that the expulsion was due to the government’s “growing concern at the interference of Canadian diplomats in our internal matters and their involvement in anti-India activities”.

Given that they made up a significant portion of the voting base, India has accused Canada of backing pro-Khalistan elements.

About 2% of Canadians identify as Sikh, and they support the cause of forming an independent Sikh country they name Khalistan, which is derived from the term Khalsa, which is revered by them in their faith.

The majority of Sikhs in India reside in Punjab, a state in northern India, which is where they desire to create their own state.

Although the separatist movement in Khalistan is illegal in India, it has gained a lot of support among the Sikh diaspora in nations like Canada and the UK.

The Canadian accusations about the assassination of Nijjar had previously been rejected as “absurd and motivated” by the Indian Foreign Ministry.

It said in a statement earlier on Tuesday that “such unfounded allegations seek to divert attention from Khalistani terrorists and extremists, who have been given shelter in Canada and continue to threaten India’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.”