During the G20 Summit, Joe Biden brought up the issue of the terrorist’s killing in Khalistan with PM Modi

At the G20 conference this month, US President Joe Biden and other world leaders raised alarm to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi over Canadian allegations that New Delhi was complicit in the assassination of a Sikh separatist leader in Canada, according to a story in the Financial Times on Thursday.

The newspaper cited three people with knowledge of the summit’s discussions to report that several members of the Five Eyes, an intelligence-sharing network that consists of the US, UK, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, brought up the June killing of Sikh separatist leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar in British Columbia with Modi.

A request for comment on the FT article was not immediately met by the White House.

Days before Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made his accusations public in a speech to the Canadian parliament earlier this week, the meeting was conducted in India.

After Canada pushed its friends to bring up the situation with Modi directly, the leaders stepped in during the G20 conference, according to the newspaper.

Following Ottawa’s allegations over the killing of the Sikh separatist leader in Canada, US national security advisor Jake Sullivan said earlier on Thursday that Washington is in contact with Indians at top levels and is not granting India any “special exemption” in this regard.

Jake Sullivan, the national security adviser for the United States (Reuters)

India has denied and referred to Canada’s accusations as “absurd.” The situation has further harmed relations between Canada and India. On Thursday, India halted the issuance of new visas to Canadians and requested that Ottawa scale up its diplomatic representation there.

Given that Canada has been a longtime partner and ally while also attempting to forge strong connections with New Delhi in order to offset China’s dominance in the Asia Pacific area, the scenario has left several Western countries in a difficult position.