The US on Friday urged India to work with Canada. (File)
The Biden administration will likely try to stay out of the diplomatic dispute between Canada and India as much as possible, with the aim of not disrupting the progress it has made in its relations with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government, he says Founder of political strategy firm Signum Global Advisors. “We are doing everything we can to work with India to help surpass China, and I don’t think the United States will get too involved in the dispute,” Signum Chairman Charles Myers said on BNN Bloomberg Television. Myers, a former vice chairman of Evercore, is a longtime Democratic Party donor who has raised money for Biden.
Relations between Canada and India are strained over the killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, who was shot on June 18 in Surrey, a suburb of Vancouver. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said this week there was “credible” evidence linking the Indian government to Nijjar’s killing. “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.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Friday called on India to cooperate with Canada in its investigation into the case. “We want to see accountability and it is important that the investigation takes its course and leads to that outcome,” he said.
But the US and other allies have taken no concrete retaliatory measures, such as expelling Indian diplomats.
The Indian government, which denied involvement in the killing, described Nijjar as a Khalistani terrorist and criticized Trudeau’s government for not doing more to combat “anti-India activities” within the Indian diaspora in Canada.
Canada expelled a senior Indian diplomat, and India retaliated. India has suspended visa applications for Canadians, a measure that will stifle business and leisure travel from Canada if it remains in effect for any length of time.
“For Prime Minister Trudeau to even make these allegations public, he must have very good information and evidence given the seriousness of the allegations,” Myers said. “If true, it is an example of state-sponsored terrorism on Canadian soil.”
Nevertheless, the US would “try to stay out of it,” he said.