Jaishankar calls out double standards of influential nations as US backs Canada’s claim

External Affairs Minister subtly dismisses Canada’s ‘freedom of speech’ excuse for not reining in Khalistanis.

'A lot of things are done in the name of freedom', External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said in New York amid the row over Ottawa’s reluctance to act against the anti-India Khalistani extremists in Canada and its recent allegations about New Delhi’s role in the killing of one of them. "In the name of the market a lot of things are done, like in the name of freedom a lot of things are done,” Jaishankar said, apparently taking a dig at Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government, which often cited freedom of speech as an excuse for its alleged reluctance to act on New Delhi’s requests to stop the Khalistani Sikh extremists from running secessionist campaigns against India from Canada.

Jaishankar also subtly hit out at the “double standards” of the nations “occupying the position of influence” in the world. The external affairs minister is likely to travel from New York to Washington DC on Wednesday to meet the United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken. He is expected to discuss with his counterpart about the proposed visit of US President Joe Biden to New Delhi to attend the Republic Day ceremony on January 26.

A new irritant, however, emerged in New Delhi’s relations with Washington DC after the US envoy in Ottawa, David Cohen, lent credence to the claim of Justin Trudeau’s government that its allegation about India’s role in the killing of Khalistan Tiger Force commander Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Canada on June 18 was based on intelligence shared within the ‘Five Eyes’. The ‘Five Eyes’ is an intelligence alliance comprising Australia, New Zealand, Canada, the United Kingdom and the US. The New York Times even reported that it was the US that provided Canada with intelligence inputs about India’s alleged role in the killing of the Khalistani Sikh extremist.

“They will all mouth the right things, but the reality is still today, it's a world very much of double standards," Jaishankar said in New York. He was speaking at a discussion on ‘South Rising: Partnerships, Institutions and Ideas’ hosted by the Observer Research Foundation, in collaboration with the Permanent Mission of India to the United Nations. 

Jaishankar’s comment was in the context of resistance from the nations “occupying the position of influence” to the changes in the world order and the rise of the ‘Global South’ or the developing nations. But it also appeared to be a tacit response to the recent comment of the US Secretary of State that Washington DC was “extremely vigilant” about alleged instances of “transnational repressions” like Ottawa’s claim about New Delhi’s role in the killing of Nijjar, who was accused of terrorist activities in India, but lived freely in Canada.

Since Trudeau claimed that his government’s security agencies were actively pursuing the ‘credible allegations’ about ‘a potential link’ between India’s agents and the killing of a citizen of Canada, the Biden Administration has been urging New Delhi to cooperate with Ottawa to carry forward the probe.

India, according to the sources, has taken exception to the reaction of the Biden administration to Canada’s allegations against India, particularly the reference to “transnational repression”. The US itself had a long history of going way beyond its borders to hunt down people it considered threats to its national security, including terrorists like Osama bin Laden and Ayman al Zawahiri in Pakistan and Afghanistan in 2011 and 2022 respectively and Iran’s military leader Qasem Soleimani in Iraq in 2020. While New Delhi dismissed Ottawa’s allegation as ‘absurd’, ‘motivated’ and ‘unsubstantiated’, India is likely to convey its disappointment over the doublespeak of the US.

Biden visited New Delhi for the G20 summit earlier from September 8 to 10 – less than three months after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s landmark state visit to Washington DC added new momentum to India-US ties. During a bilateral meeting at his residence on September 8, Modi invited Biden to be the chief guest at the Republic Day ceremony in New Delhi on January 26 next year, the US ambassador to India, Eric Garcetti, recently confirmed.

But before Washington DC could confirm acceptance of the invitation, its ties with New Delhi apparently came under a bit of a shadow in the wake of Canada’s allegations against India.