OTTAWA
\nCanada worked \u201cvery closely\u201d with the United States on intelligence that Indian agents had been potentially involved in the murder of a Sikh leader in British Columbia earlier this year, a senior Canadian government source said on Tuesday.
\nPrime Minister Justin Trudeau announced on Monday that domestic intelligence agencies were actively pursuing credible allegations tying New Delhi\u2019s agents to the shooting of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, 45, in June.
\n\u201cWe\u2019ve been working with the US very closely, including on the public disclosure yesterday,\u201d the source said. The evidence in Canada\u2019s possession would be shared \u201cin due course,\u201d said the official who spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the information.
\nTrudeau on Tuesday told reporters that the case had far-reaching consequences in international law, and urged the Indian government to take the matter seriously and help Canada fully investigate the matter.
\nIndia quickly dismissed Trudeau\u2019s assertion as absurd, and said it was expelling a Canadian diplomat, a tit-for-tat move after Canada expelled India\u2019s top intelligence figure on Monday.
\nThe dispute deals a fresh blow to diplomatic ties that have been fraying for years, with New Delhi unhappy over Sikh separatist activity in Canada.
\n\u201cI would expect that normal discussions between the two governments will be difficult while this issue is being resolved,\u201d said Roland Paris, Trudeau\u2019s former foreign policy adviser and a professor of international affairs at the University of Ottawa.
\nUS authorities, earlier on Tuesday, said they supported Canada\u2019s investigation.
\n\u201cWe have been in close contact with our Canadian colleagues about this. We\u2019re quite concerned about the allegations. We think it\u2019s important there is a full and open investigation, and we would urge the Indian Government to cooperate with that investigation,\u201d a senior State Department official said.
\nNow some, including Canada\u2019s Conservative opposition leader, Pierre Poilievre, are urging Trudeau to show the evidence that the government has in hand.
\nJesse Singh, founder and chairman of the community group, Sikhs of America, told an event hosted by Washington\u2019s Hudson Institute think tank that Trudeau has failed to provide any proof.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s just something that he said is a \u2018credible allegation,\u2019 with no proof at all. And I think we\u2019ll have to wait to see if there is any proof there and then I think further decisions can be taken,\u201d Singh added.
\nThe spat has already thrown cold water on trade talks, which have been paused, and Canada last week called off a major trade mission scheduled for October.
\nA second Canadian source familiar with the situation said that both the pause in the trade talks and the delay of the trade mission were due to the concerns surrounding the murder of the Canadian.
\nNew Delhi, which has urged Ottawa to act against anti-Indian elements, has long been unhappy over Sikh separatist activity in Canada.
\nNijjar supported creating a Sikh homeland in the form of an independent, so-called state of Khalistan in India\u2019s northern state of Punjab, the birthplace of the Sikh religion, which borders Pakistan. India designated him as a \u201cterrorist\u201d in 2020. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
OTTAWA Canada worked \u201cvery closely\u201d with the United States on intelligence that Indian agents had been potentially involved in the murder of a Sikh leader in British Columbia earlier this year, a senior Canadian government source said on Tuesday. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced on Monday that domestic intelligence agencies were actively pursuing credible allegations […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":357325,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-357296","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n