US wades into India-Canada spat, urges for cooperation
PTC News Desk: The United States has waded into the India-Canada Spat urging India to cooperate and take Canada's allegations seriously. Terming Canada's allegations "extremely serious," US has asked New Delhi to "cooperate" with Ottawa's investigation into the killing of Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar.
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Both the countries have been dealing with the diplomatic crisis ever since the murder of Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar for which Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeu held India responsible. India has rejected Canada's allegations, terming it "absurd" and "politically motivated." Both India and Canada are significant partners of the United States, however, both the nations expelled each other's diplomats in a tit for tat move resulting escalating tensions.
"We have made clear that the Canadian allegations are extremely serious and they need to be taken seriously and we wanted to see the Government of India cooperate with Canada and its investigation. But, India has chosen an alternate path...," US Department of State Spokesperson Matthew Miller said in a press briefing on Tuesday.
He emphasised the need for cooperation between the two countries, stating, "I do not have any further comment beyond what the two countries have said publicly. We have urged them to cooperate and will continue to urge them to do so." This comes in the wake of rising diplomatic strains over Canadian allegations against India, which have yet to be substantiated with evidence.
When questioned about the status of these allegations, Miller responded, "I will defer to those two countries to speak to the relevant status of the matter." However, Miller reassured that the US-India bilateral relationship remain strong, citing multiple areas of collaboration.
"India continues to be an incredibly strong partner of the United States. We've worked with them on a number of matters including our shared vision for a free, open and prosperous Indo-Pacific, and when we have concerns, we have the kind of relationship where we can take those concerns to them and have very frank, candid conversations about those concerns, and that's what we've been doing," he said.
- With inputs from agencies
