UK and US urge India to co-operate with Canada amid row

[Anta Assamey]

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British PM Keir Starmer and Canadian PM Justin Trudeau spoke about the file on Monday

Officials from the UK and the US are urging India to co-operate with Canada's legal process after it accused India of being involved in homicides, extortions and other violent acts targeting Indian dissidents on Canadian soil.

After Canada levelled the accusations on Monday both countries expelled top envoys and diplomats, ramping up already strained tensions.

India has rejected the allegations as “preposterous”, and accused Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of pandering to Canada’s large Sikh community for political gain.

On Wednesday, the British Foreign Office said a statement that it is in contact with Ottawa "about the serious developments outlined in the independent investigations in Canada". 

 

“The UK has full confidence in Canada’s judicial system,” the statement added. 

"The Government of India's cooperation with Canada's legal process is the right next step."

The US, another close Canadian ally, said that India was not co-operating with Canadian authorities as the White House had hoped it would.

“We have made clear that the allegations are extremely serious and they need to be taken seriously and we want to see the government of India co-operate with Canada in its investigation," said spokesperson Matthew Miller at a US State Department briefing on Tuesday.

"Obviously, they have not chosen that path.” 

Canada's foreign minister, Melanie Joly, has said that Ottawa is in close contact with the Five Eyes intelligence alliance - comprising the US, UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. 

The India-Canada row dates back to September 2023, when Trudeau publicly accused India of being involved in the murder of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a Sikh separatist leader who was shot and killed outside his temple in Surrey, British Columbia, in June 2023.

He had been a vocal supporter of the Khalistan movement, which demands a separate Sikh homeland, and publicly campaigned for it.

On Monday, the rift deepened after the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) took the rare step of publicly disclosing information about multiple ongoing investigations “due to significant threat to public safety” in Canada.

RCMP commissioner Mike Duheme told reporters that there had been “over a dozen credible and imminent threats to life” which he said “specifically” focused on members of the pro-Khalistan movement.

Subsequent investigations had led to police uncovering alleged criminal activity orchestrated by government of India agents. 

In a news conference later that day, Trudeau said the evidence brought to light by the RCMP “cannot be ignored” and that “it is necessary to disrupt the criminal activities that continue to pose a threat to public safety in Canada”.

India has vehemently denied all allegations and maintained that Canada has provided no evidence to support its claims.

The RCMP and national security advisers travelled to Singapore last weekend to meet with Indian officials and present them with evidence - a meeting Mr Duheme said was not fruitful.