US, UK stand by Canada, ask India to join probe into Nijjar killing

New Delhi: With the diplomatic spat between New Delhi and Ottawa over the murder of Khalistani Sikh extremist Hardeep Singh Nijjar escalating, the United States and the United Kingdom threw their weight behind Canada, accusing India of not cooperating with the probe into the killing in the North American country and nudging it to do so now.

As both New Delhi and Ottawa expelled each other’s diplomats, the US State Department accused India of overlooking its earlier advice of cooperating with the investigation launched in Canada into the killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar. The Foreign, Commonwealth, and Development Office (FCDO) of the British Government too stated that the UK had full faith in the judicial process in Canada, and India joining the process would be the “right next step”.

The US and the UK are Canada’s partners in the Five Eyes intelligence alliance, which also comprises New Zealand and Australia. New Zealand already termed Canada’s allegations against the diplomats of India as “very concerning”.

New Delhi on Monday decided to withdraw its envoy to Ottawa, Sanjay Kumar Verma, and five of his colleagues after Canada conveyed to India that they had been identified as “persons of interest” in the police investigation into the killing of the Nijjar at the parking lot of a gurdwara in the British Columbia province North American country on June 18, 2023.

Ottawa said that it had to expel Verma and five other officials of India as New Delhi was not ready to waive their diplomatic immunity to clear the way for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) to bring them within the ambit of the probe. New Delhi also retaliated by expelling six diplomats of Canada, including its acting High Commissioner to India, Stewert Wheeler, and Deputy High Commissioner Patrick Hebert.

“We are in contact with our Canadian partners about the serious developments outlined in the independent investigations in Canada. The UK has full confidence in Canada’s judicial system. Respect for sovereignty and the rule of law is essential,” the FCDO of the UK government said in a statement, adding: “The Government of India’s cooperation with Canada’s legal process is the right next step.”

“When it comes to the Canadian matter, we have made clear that the allegations are extremely serious, and they need to be taken seriously, and we wanted to see the Government of India cooperate with Canada in its investigation. Obviously, they have not chosen that path,” Matthew Miller, the spokesperson of the US State Department, said. He was responding to questions on the diplomatic spat between India and Canada.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau recently said in Ottawa that the RCMP had “clear and compelling evidence” of the agents of the Government of India being engaged in activities that posed a significant threat to public safety. “This includes clandestine information gathering techniques, coercive behaviour targeting South Asian Canadians, and involvement in over a dozen threatening and violent acts, including murder. This is unacceptable,” alleged Trudeau, who had on September 18, 2023, first accused New Delhi of playing a role in the killing of Nijjar, one of the most wanted fugitive terrorists of India.

New Delhi has dismissed Ottawa’s allegations that the diplomats and officials of India had been engaged in criminal activities in Canada.

Ottawa moved against India’s diplomats in Canada even as New Delhi sent a team to Washington DC to continue discussion with the US officials on the allegations that the officials of the Government of India had been involved in a plot to kill another Khalistani Sikh extremist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, a leader of the Sikhs for Justice (SFJ), in New York.

“They (India) have told us that they are taking the allegations seriously, that the activities contained in the DOJ (Department of Justice) indictment do not represent government (Government of India) policy,” Miller, the spokesperson of the US State Department, said. “So, the meeting that happened this week or that is happening today by India’s inquiry (team) was to discuss their active investigation into the matter, for us to update them on our active investigation into the matter, and to continue to share sides about steps that could happen in the days and weeks to come,” he added.

The US prosecutors had on November 29, 2023, alleged that Nikhil Gupta, a businessman arrested in Prague and now incarcerated in a jail in Brooklyn, had been an associate of an official of an agency of the Government of India and the official had engaged him to hire a hitman to assassinate Pannun, the general counsel of the SFJ.

The SFJ leads and coordinates the campaign in the US, the UK, and the rest of the West in favour of carving out a separate Khalistan for the Sikhs from India.

New Delhi purportedly conveyed to Washington DC that the official had been arrested after being accused of being involved with the plot to kill Pannun in New York.