“If you have something specific, relevant…let us know”: Jaishankar on Canada’s allegations

New York [US], September 27 (ANI): External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar assured the Canadian side to take action if they provide specific information in connection with Khalistani leader Hardeep Nijjar’s killing, adding "we are open to looking at it."

Speaking at the ‘Discussion at Council on Foreign Relations’ in New York, Jaishankar said, “We told the Canadians that this is not the government of India's policy. Secondly, we said if you have something specific and if you have something relevant, let us know. We are open to looking at it...The picture is not complete without the context in a way”.

Notably, Canada has yet to provide any public evidence to support the claim about the slaying of Hardeep Singh Nijjar.

He further said that there has been a lot of “organised crime” in Canada in the last few years, and the Indian government has given a lot of information to Canada regarding this.

“…In the last few years, Canada actually has seen a lot of organized crime, relating to the secessionist forces, organized crime, violence and extremism. They're all very, very deeply mixed up. So in fact, we have been talking about specifics and information. We have given them a lot of information about organized crime and leadership, which operates out of Canada. There are a large number of extradition requests. There are terrorist leaders, who have been identified,” he said.

The EAM raised concern over these incidents of threats to Indian diplomats and attacks on Indian consulates, stating that these are “very permissive” because of political reasons.

“Our concern is that it's really been very permissive, because of political reasons. So we have a situation where our diplomats are threatened, our consulates have been attacked...A lot of this is often justified, as saying that's how democracies work. If somebody gives me something specific, it doesn't have to be restricted to Canada. But if there's any incident which is an issue and somebody gives me something specific, as a government, I would look at it,” Jaishankar further said.

Early last week, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made an explosive statement accusing the Indian government of being involved in the killing of Khalistani terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar – a claim that India has outrightly rejected, calling it ‘absurd’ and ‘motivated’.

India has suspended its visa services in Canada, following Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau's allegations of Indian involvement in the killing.

Amid strained ties, India issued an advisory for its citizens and those who are travelling to Canada to exercise “utmost caution in view of growing anti-India activities and politically-condoned hate crimes and criminal violence" in the country. (ANI)