CNN
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An Indian minister has accused Canada of giving “operating space” to terrorists and extremists, as he rejected claims by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau that the Indian authorities might have performed a job within the assassination of a Sikh separatist on Canadian soil.

“The Canadian (prime minister) made some allegations initially privately, and then publicly. And, our response to him, both in private and public, was that what he was alleging was not consistent with our policy,” India’s Minister of External Affairs Subrahmanyam Jaishankar stated throughout a dialogue on the Hudson Institute in Washington D.C. on Friday.

The minister stated India was “open to” additional look at the occasion if the Canadian authorities “had anything relevant and specific they would like us to look into,” however added that the row between the international locations preceded Trudeau’s allegations.

Relations between the 2 nations took a nosedive final week after Trudeau claimed his authorities had been investigating “credible allegations” of a possible hyperlink between “agents of the government of India” and the killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, an outspoken supporter of the creation of Khalistan – a separate homeland for the Sikhs that would come with elements of India’s Punjab state.

India considers requires Khalistan a grave nationwide safety menace. However, it has vehemently denied Trudeau’s claims, calling them “absurd and motivated,” and the rising spat has seen each international locations expel each other’s diplomats.

But Jaishankar stated on Friday that the variations went again additional than the row over Nijjar’s dying. He stated the Indian authorities had lengthy accused Canada of inaction in coping with Sikh separatist extremism geared toward making a separate Sikh homeland.

He stated India believes Canada has a “very permissive Canadian attitude towards terrorists, extremist people who openly advocate violence.”

Those people “have been given operating space in Canada because of the compulsions of Canadian politics,” Jaishankar added.

Nijjar’s dying shocked and outraged the Sikh group in Canada, one of many largest outdoors India and residential to greater than 770,000 members of the spiritual minority.

A variety of teams related to the concept of Khalistan are listed as “terrorist organizations” underneath India’s Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), although a number of Sikh organizations overseas have accused the Indian authorities of falsely equating them with terrorism.

Nijjar’s title seems on the listing of UAPA terrorists and in 2020, the Indian National Investigation Agency accused him of “trying to radicalize the Sikh community across the world in favor of the creation of Khalistan.”

Jaishankar met US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on the State Department on Thursday.

The two diplomats made no feedback throughout a quick photo-op forward of the assembly. However, a State Department spokesman stated Friday that Blinken urged his Indian counterpart to cooperate absolutely with the continuing Canadian investigation into the killing.

The US ambassador to Canada confirmed that intelligence gained by the “Five Eyes” community, which incorporates the US, Canada, Britain, New Zealand and Australia, led to Canada’s public accusation that the Indian authorities might have performed a job within the dying of Nijjar.

At a distinct press convention Friday, Blinken stated that these answerable for the homicide of a Sikh activist in Canada “need to be held accountable.”

“We have engaged with the Indian government and urged them to work with Canada on an investigation, and I had the opportunity to do so again in my meeting yesterday with Foreign Minister Jaishankar,” stated Blinken at a press convention with Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, US Trade Representative Katherine Tai, Mexican Foreign Secretary Alicia Barcena and Economy Minister Raquel Buenrostro.

Blinken stated he hopes “our friends in both Canada and India will work together to resolve this matter.”

Jaishankar additionally famous he had spoken with each US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in regards to the matter.

“They obviously shared US views and assessments on this whole situation,” Jaishankar stated. “So I think hopefully we both came out of those meetings better and forward.”

“Today, I’m actually in a situation where my diplomats are unsafe going to the embassy, or to the consulate in Canada. They are publicly intimidated. And that has actually compelled me to temporarily suspend even visa operations in Canada,” the minister added.

Canadian police haven’t arrested anybody in reference to Nijjar’s homicide.

But in an August replace, police launched an announcement saying they had been investigating three suspects and issued an outline of a attainable getaway automobile, asking for the general public’s assist.