- By Mayukh Debnath
- Sun, 24 Sep 2023 12:13 PM (IST)
- Source:JND
US Ambassador to Canada David Cohen has confirmed that "shared intelligence among Five Eyes partners" indeed led Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to accuse "Indian intelligence agents" of orchestrating the killing of Khalistani terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar. Cohen did not comment on the type of intelligence that had been relayed to the Canadian government.
"I will say this was a matter of shared intelligence information. There was a lot of communication between Canada and the United States about this, and I think that's as far as I'm comfortable going," Cohen told CTV News in an interview to be aired on Sunday. Intelligence-sharing network Five Eyes includes the US, Britain, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.
ALSO READ: Khalistanis, Canada-Based Gangsters Invested In Movies And Top Football League, Finds NIA
The US made it clear on Friday that it expected the Indian government to work with Canada on efforts to investigate the possible involvement of New Delhi agents in Nijjar's murder. "We are deeply concerned about the allegations that Prime Minister Trudeau has raised," US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told reporters in a press briefing. "It would be important that India work with the Canadians on this investigation. We want to see accountability," he added.
While making the allegation against New Delhi on Monday, Trudeau said his claim was backed by credible intelligence. India, however, dismissed the allegations calling them "absurd and motivated". After publicly accusing the Indian government of being responsible for Nijjar's killing, Trudeau said the Canadian government had shared the "credible allegations" with New Delhi "many weeks" in advance.
"In regards to India, Canada has shared the credible allegations that I talked about on Monday. With India, we did that many weeks ago. We are there to work constructively with India and we hope that they engage with us so that we can get to the bottom of this very serious matter," he said during a press conference.
Nijjar, an Indian-born Canadian citizen, was heading Khalistan Tiger Force at the time of his murder, which took place in June this year in Surrey, British Columbia. Khalistan Tiger Force is a proscribed terror outfit in India.
(Slain Khalistani terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar poses with an assault rifle. Viral photo sourced from X (formerly Twitter))
In the immediate aftermath of Trudeau's allegation, his government declared a senior Indian diplomat 'persona non grata'. India responded to the move by expelling one of Canada's top diplomats posted in New Delhi. Amid the row, India issued an advisory for its citizens travelling to and residing in Canada after the latter warned its citizens to exercise caution while visiting India.
(With inputs from agencies)
