CNN
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Intelligence gained by the “Five Eyes” community led to Canada’s public accusation that the Indian authorities might have performed a task within the assassination of a Sikh separatist activist on Canadian soil, the US Ambassador to Canada stated Sunday.

I’m “confirming that there was shared intelligence among Five Eyes partners that helped lead Canada to making the statements that the prime minister made,” US Ambassador to Canada, David Cohen, advised CTV’s Question Period with Vassy Kapelos in a Sunday interview.

Five Eyes is an intelligence sharing pact between the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, although the ambassador wouldn’t verify if that shared intelligence got here from the US. “I’m not. I wouldn’t in any circumstance,” Cohen stated.

Relations between India and Canada plummeted last week after Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau stated authorities had been investigating “credible allegations” that New Delhi was doubtlessly behind the June killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a Sikh separatist activist, who was gunned down by two masked males in Surrey, British Columbia.

India has vehemently denied the claims, calling them “absurd and motivated.” India’s overseas ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi stated Canada has offered “no specific information” to assist the allegations.

Both nations have expelled senior diplomats in reciprocal strikes, elevating the prospect of a clumsy rift between key companions of the US.

The spat then escalated additional final week when India suspended visa services for Canadian residents over what it stated had been “security threats” towards diplomats in Canada.

Speaking to CTV, Cohen stated the US did specific its concern to India over the allegations and requested New Delhi to cooperate with Canada in its investigation.

“If they prove to be true, it is a potentially a very serious breach of the rules based international order,” the ambassador stated.

On Sunday, Canadian Defense Minister Bill Blair sought to shift the main focus from questions over its intelligence to the felony investigation of Nijjar’s killing.

In an interview with CBC, Blair stated the Five Eyes partnership is “critically important” and that Canada has “very credible intelligence that causes us to be deeply concerned,” however declined to establish the sources of that info.

“It’s another reason why I place such emphasis on the investigation that’s taking place, that we’d be able to move beyond credible intelligence to evidence, strong evidence, of exactly what happened, so that we and the Indian government can know the truth, have the facts and then work together to resolve it in an appropriate way,” he stated.

Trudeau on Thursday urged India to “shed full transparency, ensure accountability and justice in this manner.”

“We call upon the government of India to work with us. To take seriously these allegations and to allow justice to follow its course,” the prime minister stated on the Canada Mission within the United Nations.

Trudeau stated Canada shouldn’t be trying to provoke or trigger issues however stated its justice system, “and robust processes will follow its course,” in regard to investigating the allegation.

In a strongly worded assertion to reporters Thursday, Bagchi called Canada a “safe haven for terrorists” and that Canada wanted to “worry about its international reputation” within the wake of its explosive allegations.

Bagchi, stated the suspension of visa companies to Canadian nationals was due to Canadian authorities’ “incitement of violence” and “inaction.”

“The creation of an environment that disrupts the functioning our high commission and consulates, that’s what’s making us stop temporarily the issuance of visas or providing visa services,” Bagchi, stated.

The Indian authorities has lengthy accused Canada of inaction in coping with what it stated is Sikh separatist extremism geared toward making a separate Sikh homeland that will be often called Khalistan and embrace components of India’s Punjab state.

Nijjar was an outspoken supporter of the creation of Khalistan. India considers requires Khalistan a grave nationwide safety risk.

Plenty of teams related to the concept of Khalistan are listed as “terrorist organizations” beneath India’s Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA). Nijjar’s identify seems on the record 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.’”

Several Sikh organizations abroad say the motion is being falsely equated with terrorism by the Indian authorities, and say they are going to proceed to peacefully advocate for the creation of Khalistan, whereas bringing to mild what they are saying is years of human rights abuses confronted by the neighborhood in India.

According to native police, Nijjar was gunned down in his truck in June by two masked killers exterior a Sikh temple in western Canada.

His demise each shocked and outraged the Sikh neighborhood in Canada, one of many largest exterior India and residential to greater than 770,000 members of the spiritual minority.

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 car, asking for the general public’s assist.