U.S. and India mum on Canada spat in describing Jaishankar Blinken meet

In describing the meeting between External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar and U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, the U.S. State Department stayed clear of any mention of the discord between India and Canada. Neither minister mentioned the issue explicitly while characterising their conversation.

In describing the meeting between External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar and U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, the U.S. State Department stayed clear of any mention of the discord between India and Canada. Neither minister mentioned the issue explicitly while characterising their conversation.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had made an explosive allegation on September 18 that Indian Government agents had killed a Canadian Khalistani separatist , Hardeep Singh Nijjar, in British Columbia earlier this year. India has denied any involvement in the slaying.

On Thursday, Mr. Jaishankar said that he had “exchanged notes on global developments” with Mr. Blinken and the State Department Spokesperson Matthew Miller’s readout of the meeting said that the two ministers had discussed “ a full range of issues”.

The two ministers discussed the recently launched India Middle East Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC) and India’s G20 presidency. They also discussed, as per the readout, cooperation in defence, space and clean energy in the context of the upcoming ‘2+2’ dialogue between the countries’ finance and defence ministers, the next session of which will be held in New Delhi.

Notwithstanding the State Department readout’s wording, U.S. officials have publicly encouraged the government to cooperate with the Canadian investigation.

‘The Americans have been with us’ : Trudeau

“The Americans have been with us in speaking to the Indian government about how important it is that they be involved in following up on the credible allegations that agents of the Indian government killed a Canadian citizen on Canadian soil,” Mr. Trudeau was heard saying on Thursday, in a CTV clip of his press conference in Quebec. The U.S. and Canada are neighbours as well as allies, including via the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and Five Eyes intelligence partnership.