US Canada allegations on separatism: India's contrasting responses over plot
PTC News Desk: Two nations, the United States and Canada both members of the five eyes alliance accused India with the issues revolving around Khalistan but two totally different reactions from India. While India has shown utmost cooperation in Pannun plot, it has junked all the allegations in NIjjar row prompting the question that why India's reaction in both the cases is vividly contrasting and such that with one snowballing into diplomatic crisis.
The case in the US is concerned with foiled plot to murder Gurpatwant Singh Pannun. The US alleged that agents linked to Indian government were involved in the plot. The case also progressed in court with two people indicted amongst one extradited.
Hoewver, in Canada's case, Justin Trudeau in the parliament held Indian responsible for the murder of Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar who was shot dead in Surrey in June last year. Other than a blame game, the only development in the case has been the recalling and expelling of diplomats.
While both the US and Canada urged India for co-operation, only US has been upfront with all the actionable evidence. Meanwhile Canada has publicly accepted that the allegation were made on the basis of sheer intel and no evidence whatsoever was presented to India.
On October 17, the US said it "appreciated" the cooperation it had received from India. "We are satisfied with the cooperation... We appreciate the cooperation, and we appreciate them updating us on their investigation, and we update them on ours," Matthew Miller, spokesperson for the US Department of State, said.
On the contrary, Canada named India diplomats as "persons of interest" in Nijjar killing with India recalling of the Indian high commissioner and other diplomats from Canada subsequently. India called Canada's charges baseless and said, despite repeated requests, it didn't provide a "shred of evidence".
If experts to be believed, both the US and Canada have been coordination on the cases as members of the alliance however there has been a difference in which both the nations have proceeded with the case. Unlike the US, Canada doesn't have a specialised external spy agency like the CIA and depends on the US, its Five Eyes partner, for intelligence input. The Five Eyes is a close-knit espionage network. While US seems to have strongly engaged n extracting out the evidence, Canada has been shooting in the dark ever since based on only the intelligence. Eventually, they are the allegations without even a shred of evidence.
- With inputs from agencies
